Never Gonna Be Alone
by Insane Cali Gurl
Summary: (Sequel to Unconditionally) Life has had it's ups and downs and she has hidden her fair share of secrets. After 2 years she's not quite sure she can hide them anymore. Roman/OC, Dean/OC, Jimmy/OC
1. Ch 1 If I have To Wait

**Chapter 1** – If I have To Wait

"Lauren Walker."

Deep sea blue eyes blinked open as the morning sun started to peek through her bedroom curtains. It was Friday morning and she had tutor groups this morning. She really needed to get up and shower to wake herself up. She slowly rolled over while sitting up and threw her legs over the side of the bed and squished her toes in the soft carpet. She stretched her body and let out a loud yawn as she stood from bed and did the zombie walk to the bathroom.

She looked at herself in the bathroom vanity mirror; a shower was definitely needed.

"Lauren Walker."

20 minutes later she was showered and dressed. She had on skinny jeans, black flats, a white v-neck t-shirt and a black cotton sweater. As the day progressed she knew she'd lose the sweater but some mornings were chilled. Especially since Albuquerque was starting to get into its cooler months. She was standing in front of her bathroom mirror as she carefully slipped the dark green contacts into her eyes.

"Lauren Walker."

She exhaled slowly as she applied her mascara.

"My name is Lauren Walker."

She picked up the red flat iron as she proceeded to straighten sections of her hair. It was hard saying goodbye to her cork screw curls every morning; it was the one feature she actually enjoyed about herself. It took a while to get used to her new blonde locks. She had to admit she hated the color more than losing her curls.

"My name is Lauren Walker. I live in Albuquerque New Mexico. I am a librarian at the University of New Mexico Law School."

She frowned. New Mexico wasn't so bad. After 2 years it had grown on her. Not a lot of snow in the winter which was a blessing. She hated to drive in the snow. She used to make Ro...him do it; shaking her head. She couldn't think of him. It had been two years. He had moved on with his life and was probably married by now with at least one kid on the way; she cringed - that stung a bit.

She took a step back from the sink as she looked at herself in the mirror. Green eyes, straight hair, frumpy librarian clothes; could this get any more boring?

"My name is Lauren Walker and I'm bored out of my skull in Albuquerque."

She grabbed her car keys and purse as she headed out towards the University.

* * *

The Blue Ford Escape pulled into the staff parking lot as she threw the vehicle into park and killed the engine. She grabbed her messenger bag as she got out and shouldered it.

Fake dark green eyes stared at the University as she set the alarm on her SUV.

Another day; another dollar.

Once she got to the law school library and into her tutors room she started prepping her chalk board for her students that she was scheduled to see.

"Lauren, guess what my boyfriend got my for my birthday?" A familiar voice asked pulling her from her private thoughts. It was Korey Koppick. She was another tutor for the University.

Dark green eyes turned and faced the female voice speaking. "Okay hit me."

"He got me actual tickets to go see a live WWE event. Can you believe it?! I'm so excited! I can't WAIT to see all those studs live and in color." Korey beamed.

They had become fast friends when Lauren moved to Albuquerque two years ago. The one thing they had in common was the fact that they both REALLY enjoyed watching professional wrestling; Monday's and Fridays were spent at Lauren's place watching Raw and Smackdown.

"That's so great! I've never been; I'm sure you will have a great time. Everyone I've ever spoken to said the live house shows on the weekends are a thousand times better than the live shows on TV." Laruen explained; as much as she wished they could trade places she knew it was NOT possible. If ANY one even recognized her the last two years would've been for nothing.

"No no! You have to come with! He got two tickets and he said there was no way in hell he would ever go and that I should have you come with." Korey stated with a huge smile still plastered on her face. Korey knew this was a long shot. Lauren had explained she'd moved to New Mexico to hide from an abusive boyfriend. "C'mon Lauren! What are the chances that you run into that abusive prick in a crowded arena?"

Lauren stifled a groan. When Korey had asked her why she moved to boring ole New Mexico two years ago she was really put on the spot. Who the hell WOULD move here for no reason? It was damn sure not for the scenery or the job opportunities. She was completely caught off guard and spit out the first thing she could think of. Abusive boyfriend...yea that would work. She couldn't think of a better reason. She felt like an idiot!

Hell she was an idiot for what she was about to say ask.

"Well when is the live event? And how good is the seating for these tickets exactly?"

* * *

If she was lucky - REAL lucky they were far enough away from the ring that no one would see her.

Fake green eyes looked over the packed arena. Their seats were on the floor so flat and even with the ring, but they were back all the way against the first tier of stairs. So the chances of anyone seeing her would be slim to none.

She carefully followed Korey around the arena to their isle seats. She was so nervous and yet excited at the same time. They took their seats and relaxed for a few minutes before the live event started. As soon as it started it was loud music and thousands of fans screaming, cheering and chanting at the top of their lungs all around the pair of friends. They couldn't help but join in with the fun. People didn't lie the live shows on the weekend were a thousand times better than on nights they taped Raw or Smackdown.

The entire show was completely amazing. And she felt slightly disappointed that she didn't get to see him - maybe he was on a different Live tour in a different state. It was slightly disheartening but it was still a hell of a show. The whole night had been completely worth it just to see the smile on Korey's face all night long. There was only one match left and they had both decided food was in dire need; they'd both picked Denny's since it was open late.

Fake green eyes widened as the familiar music pounded through the speakers of the arena. She knew that music. It may have changed slightly over the last two years, but the tune remained the same; the only difference was now instead of 3 men coming out through the crowd - it was only one coming down the ramp now.

Roman Reigns.

She had done some online research and saw that they were just 30 days past WrestleMania and she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face as she watched him step out at the top of the ramp and held the WWE Heavyweight Championship belt high above his 6'3" frame. He had worked and fought so hard for it; it was nice to see all his dreams had finally come true for him.

She watched as he walked down the ramp and entered the ring. He looked as if he was in amazing shape as always and watched as he posed at the corner like normal. Then she watched as AJ Styles came out and they started mixing it up in the ring.

The match spilled out of the ring and then suddenly she watched as the big man threw AJ Styles over the barricade like he weighted absolutely nothing. She was enamored with the match as they went into the crowd and exchanged blows back and forth while shoving each other into tables and equipment trunks that lined the back wall on the first tier.

She could feel herself breathing a little heavier as the wrestlers made their way to their isle. Korey grabbed her arm in excitement as they started changing blows while making their way down their isle. In a split second fake green eyes locked with familiar grey orbs. A look of surprise and familiarity crossed his handsome face when he stopped in his tracks and a split second later he was sucked back into the match when AJ rammed his knee in the grey eyed brutes gut before steering the match back to the ring.

Once Roman got the three count the fans went crazy in the arena as Korey and Lauren took off and headed to the car. They knew traffic coming out was going to be insane and they at least wanted to TRY and beat it.

* * *

Roman posed on the turnbuckle with his belt held up high in the air as his grey eyes searched the crowd on the floor seats over and over. Her face - if he didn't recognize anything else he knew that face. The green eyes were fake and clearly the hair was dyed blonde - but the face was completely recognizable; not to mention her body. He had gotten to know every contour and curve on her body PERSONALLY; there wasn't a spot on her body that was foreign to him.

But it was impossible...

Wasn't it?

He had said his goodbye's to her almost two and a half years ago standing at her grave in the small cemetery in Sacramento, California per her sisters request.

Once he hopped off the turnbuckle and exited the ring he met up with AJ at the top of the ramp as the older co-worker clapped him on the shoulder. "You alright big man? Something spooked you out there tonight and threw you off your game." AJ's Georgian accent asked.

Roman pursed his lips as he shook his head. "I thought I saw...someone."

AJ looked at the younger gentleman with concern as he looked up when his twin cousins walked up. "Hey Uce, what happened out there?" Jimmy asked as they slapped hands on approach.

Jey stared at his cousin. "Yea is everything aight; you looked like you saw a ghost out there." He asked.

Roman shook his head. "No. I thought I saw Mackenzie."

Jey and Jimmy both stopped in their tracks. "Uce that's impossible." Jimmy pointed out.

Roman glared at his cousin. "Don't you think I know that?" He snapped.

Jimmy threw his hands up in defense as he stepped back slightly. "Sorry! I just wanted to point out the obvious up front."

The four man continued down the hallway to their locker room. "Maybe it was someone who just looked like Mac." Jey offered.

Roman pinched the bridge of his nose. "She had fake green eyes and fake blonde hair but she had Kenzie's face and body. That's not possible for someone to look exactly like her but with different eyes and hair."

AJ looked between the twins. "So whose Mackenzie?" He asked in a soft voice; clearly not wanting to upset Roman any.

Jey fell behind in step letting Roman and his twin walk ahead of them a little ways before he threw his arm over AJ's shoulders. "Mac was a girl who worked for the legal department in WWE. She and Uce dated for a while and he was getting close to asking her to marry him, but at the same time she had a stalker abusive lawyer ex-boyfriend; he created all kinds of trouble and got us all arrested with Ambrose when we came back from Jimmy and Charisma wedding - shit the second we walked out of the airport we were in handcuffs. Anyways something went down at her apartment and Mac ended up getting stabbed by him, but in the process she shot his ass too. Unfortunately neither of them made it out of the hospital alive."

AJ shook his head. "Jesus..."

Jey nodded. "Yea, if he thinks for a second he is seeing Mac - it can't be good."

Roman sat down in the locker room as he picked up his cell and stared at it for a few minutes.

"What are you thinking Uce?" Jey asked curiously.

"I'm thinking - I'm thinking I need to call Alice." He tossed his phone back into his bag as he grabbed a towel and a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom. He had already stripped out of his vest and boots. Once he had stripped completely he stepped under the hot sprays of the shower.

The last two and half years had not been great for Roman; the first 6 months in particular. At the beginning of June that same year the writers decided to break up the Shield by having Seth turn on him and Dean; that was painful to say the least. In September an old football hernia reared its ugly head and he had to have emergency surgery while on the road in Nashville Tennessee. It put him out of commission for 3 months.

When he came back his popularity with the fans spiraled downward out of control. It didn't matter how hard he worked to come back from his hernia surgery or how hard he worked in the ring the fans were just not happy with him. He didn't care though he still had his own diehard fans that they had happily named themselves the Roman Empire; he loved it!

The following January 2015 he won the Royal Rumble and the fans hated him even more...actually they practically booed him right out of the building. He still didn't care. The fans paid good money for their tickets and they could have any opinion they wanted. To him they earned that right. When it came time for his match at WrestleMania.

He really tried moving on from Mackenzie, but no one could quite hold his interest or his heart the way she had. He'd visited her grave on multiple occasions and even kept in touch with Alice, Dain, Neela, Nathan and McKenna. Alice always made sure to invite him for a home cooked meal and told him he was welcome whenever he was in town; hell he was welcome whenever he wanted.

Maybe he wouldn't call Alice; maybe it was time for a visit.

* * *

Fake green eyes looked at the reflection in the mirror as she carefully removed the colored contacts. Sometimes she couldn't even recognize herself; other times she didn't want to. She washed the make-up off her face as she patted it dry. She really did have a wonderful time at the arena watching the show, but it was definitely too close for her comfort level.

She hung the towel up as she looked at her reflection once more.

"My name is Lauren Walker and I'm a big fat liar...My name is Mackenzie Brewman and I faked my own death to save myself and the love of my life. And If I have to wait for forever; I will to get back to him." She wiped the stray tears from her cheeks as she turned the lights off and laid in bed; even if sleep wasn't coming soon.


	2. Ch 2 All My Secrets

**Chapter 2** – All My Secrets

Grey eyes looked out the window of the American Airlines plane as it touched down in Sacramento, California. It had been a couple of months since Roman had gone to visit MacKenzie's sister. Ever since he'd seen; thought he'd seen MacKenzie at the house show over the weekend he couldn't stop thinking about the green eyed woman and he damn sure couldn't stop thinking about MacKenzie.

God he missed her. He missed her every day that he was still breathing.

He hated admitting it but the first few weeks after her funeral he felt like he couldn't function without her. Here he was the 6'3" 265lb Enforcer from The Shield and he couldn't function without a woman in his life. In the months that followed he was an absolute grizzly BEAR to be around and it killed him to know that everyone knew why. Roman was very private about his life with MacKenzie and so was she because of the way they both ran their lives.

She was literally his life line.

It took Roman almost a year and a half before he eventually asked another woman out. Even then the spark that MacKenzie had that gave his life purpose just wasn't coming from any other woman. After 6 girls and zero sparks he gave up looking and decided when the time was right the woman he was looking for would find him instead.

Roman was happy the rental car place was ready and waiting for him and Before he could blink he was parking in the driveway of the familiar house as he sighed before throwing his rental into park and killed the engine. He didn't even make it half way to the front door before it was thrown open and two eight year olds were running at him full speed.

"UNCLE ROMAN!"

"UNCLE ROMAN!"

The squeals did his heart good as he squatted down and caught both of them. He softly brushed kisses across their foreheads before standing back up and letting them grab his hands and drag him the rest of the way across the front yard and into the house; where he was met with a warm smile from Alice carrying McKenna. "Hey Alice." He greeted.

"Roman! It's so good to see you again." Alice stated as she pushed up on her tip toes and hugged him tightly with one arm as she accepted a kiss on the cheek and McKenna squealed when Roman's mustache and goatee tickled her when he brushed a kiss on her cheek as well. "Can you stay for dinner?" She asked.

Roman chuckled. "Of course, you know I can say no to a home cooked meal and afterwards I would really like to speak with you about something privately." He informed her.

"Absolutely. Well you came at a good time; dinner is almost ready and Dain is due home from work any minute." Alice stated as she turned and walked from the front door to the kitchen; she could hear little feet dragging Roman behind her.

The entire house smelled of grilled chicken and rice with broccoli. It smelled like heaven. Roman felt his stomach growl; he hadn't eaten since before his autograph signing this morning. He'd had a snack on the plane but it wasn't nearly enough to sedate his big body.

* * *

By the time the small talk and food ran out Dain had wrangled the kids upstairs for their baths and getting them ready for bed for school in the morning. Roman had relaxed considerably as he looked up at Alice when she walked into the living room and handed him a cup of coffee.

He smiled as he accepted it graciously and took a gentle sip so as not to burn himself before he set the cup down on the coffee table.

"Okay Dain is going to have his hands full with those three for a minute; you wanted to talk. What's up?" Alice asked curiously.

Roman leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. "I have to start by saying I got spooked at a house show over this last weekend and I do not spook easily. I was in the middle of a match that spilled out onto the floor where the fans are and as we made our way down the aisle I looked up and thought I saw a ghost." Roman shook his head; the thought still have him chills.

"What do you mean Roman?" Alice's interest was officially piqued. 'Who did you see?"

"MacKenzie." Roman stated in a murmured tone. "I thought I saw MacKenzie. This chic had green eyes and blonde hair but - but she had MacKenzie's face."

"R-Roman, that's impossible." Alice stated as she felt anxiety start to bubble in her stomach. It had taken her MONTHS to get the reality of her sister not being in her life through her brain; months and months. "You had to of been mistaken."

Roman had been contemplating a lot of things since he'd seen the lady that could've been MacKenzie's twin at the house show. None of it was adding up though. "When MacKenzie's heart stopped I was right by her side. The part that doesn't seem to be adding all the way up for me if the fact that the staff ushered my out of the room to perform CPR which is protocol. I expected it. What I didn't expect was not being allowed to see her to say goodbye after the doctor told me she couldn't be saved and that she succumbed to her injuries."

"T-That doesn't seem right Roman." Alice stuttered again.

Roman narrowed his eyes as he realized that was the second time Alice stuttered. MacKenzie used to laugh and joke about how her sister couldn't lie to save her ass because she would stutter like a fool. "The staff covered her body and moved her out of the damn room while the doctor came to talk to me."

"I-I don't understand Roman; how is any of this possible?" Alice asked with another stutter. She tore her hand through her hair; she had curly hair like MacKenzie only hers was more like banana curls instead of the cork screws that her sister and somehow both of her daughters gained as they got older.

This was not how this was supposed to go. Roman was not supposed to figure this all out. Alice stood from the couch as she began pacing slightly. "Damn it..." She whispered; she never could lie to save her life.

Roman stood up. "Alice what the hell is going on? Do you know something?"

Alice rubbed her forehead as she stopped and looked up at Roman as she chewed her bottom lip. "Yes - NO!" She changed her mind. "I don't know." She slumped back onto the couch.

"You don't know or you can't tell me?" Roman tried hard not to demand too gruffly. "Alice you have got to give me something to work with here." Roman was finally putting the pieces together; whatever conclusion was at the end of it - of one thing he was sure of. Alice knew exactly what was going on.

"I just - I wish...I can't. I just can't Roman. Please don't ask me any more questions." Alice practically begged.

Roman sighed heavily as he scrubbed both of his hands down his face as he began leisurely walking around the living room. As long as he had known Alice and Dain he'd never truly looked at the pictures and surroundings in the living room. He found what he would have to believe was the BEST picture he'd ever seen of MacKenzie with Neela, Nathan and McKenna. It had clearly been taken on the same day as McKenna's christening. He remembered that dress and how beautiful she looked in it.

Roman's grey eyes wondered along the fireplace mantle as he took in the other pictures that lined it. His eyes stopped on one picture in particular. His eyes began to dance around the picture and the people in it and their dress attire.

And then he saw him and it.

Roman's eyes went from the picture over to Alice and back to the picture. He smoothed down his mustache and goatee as he practically stared a hole in the picture on the mantle. The familiar five point star inside of the circle hanging from a metal chain in the middle of Alice's husband's chest. "Alice as long as I've known you; I've never asked what Dain does for a living."

Alice's head snapped up as she looked over at Roman. "H-He umm. Damn it Roman."

"I'm a United States Deputy Marshal for the Witness Security Program. Anything else you want to know you can ask me and leave Alice alone." Dain stated as he walked into the living room.

* * *

She did love her weekends the most. Where she didn't have to be Lauren Walker. She didn't have to be some law school tutor in some University in New Mexico.

She would wake up Saturday morning and get out of bed as MacKenzie Brewman and go about her day. She would do a couple of loads of laundry and do some house cleaning and relax the rest of the day with Netflix and snacks.

Sunday she would plan her tutoring schedules for the following week. By the time 10 PM rolled around she was in bed and would be dreading walking up as Lauren Walker the following morning.

Being Lauren wouldn't be so bad if the damn Marshals who set her up in the Witness Security Program had given her Jeff's last name just to throw people off who might've been looking for her. Who would've thought to look for their ex with their last name? No one!

Today was Saturday and she was sitting on her balcony reading a book and enjoying some ice tea. She kept thinking back to Friday night when she got to watch Roman in the ring up close and personal again after 2 1/2 years. She'd missed watching him in the ring; watching it on TV was just NOT the same.

The day she was admitted to the ER from Jeff's stab wound, Roman and the rest of their friends weren't allowed back in the ER to see her until she was deemed stable. Dain and a few of the other deputies from the US Marshal services showed up entering from the back of the building so they wouldn't be seen by Roman. They told her Jeff's body never made it to the hospital morgue; when the Ambulance was found his body was missing...and so was the ambulance driver; who they later found out was one of Jeff's friends.

It was made clear that Jeff was not dead and had been dropping hints through all the surveillance footage of Roman's house that they had confiscated from Jeff's laptop pointed to the fact that Jeff was going to kill MacKenzie and go after Roman and his entire family. Unbeknownst to Roman and his family they had been placed under a secret surveillance detail for the last 2 1/2 years. Everything about their lives was videoed and cataloged.

Jeff had been spotted several times near Roman and his family, but by the time the US Marshal's got to where the sighting was reported there was no sign of him. They knew before he disappeared all of the money in his bank accounts had been drained, his vehicle was found abandoned on a dirt road and his house had been tossed around and 75% of his clothing and shoes were missing. He had obviously planned something and no one knew what is was.

It was obvious from all the signs that when MacKenzie shot Jeff he had clearly not died. Clearly he had some kind of contingency plan set aside in case of just that type of emergency. A year ago her grave had been dug up and her empty coffin was left open to bare everything. Dain had quickly and quietly had it reburied as if nothing happened and no one had been the wiser. Dain and the rest of the Marshal service figured it was either Jeff or someone who he'd paid to find out the truth for him.

At this point Jeff knew she wasn't dead, but was completely miserable because at the same time she wasn't with Roman. Either way Jeff got exactly what he wanted.

* * *

Roman stepped backwards a couple of steps before he felt the couch hit the back of his knees and he sat down with little to no effort. He felt like the rug had just been jerked from underneath his feet. His grey orbs danced between Alice and Dain as they sat across from him on the opposite couch.

Dain could tell Roman had a million questions on his mind but he was just filing through them to see which one he wanted to ask first; before he even got started Dain walked over and flipped a switch near the fire place. "The house is officially surveillance proof so no one outside of the house can hear our conversation...in case someone - who shall remain nameless has been able to bug the house. We can speak freely now." He stated before walking back over to sit next to his wife.

"What would I find in her coffin if I got a court order to exhume her body?" Roman asked honestly.

"What do you think you would find buddy?" Dain counter questioned. "I'm sure it would be a surprise but I think you could handle it." He wouldn't confirm anything until Roman asked him the question that was burning to leave his lips.

Roman clenched his eyes shut as his heart clenched in his chest at the same time. He took a deep breath as he opened his eyes and looked and Dain. "She's alive isn't she?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes and safe; don't forget safe." Dain stated. "But listen to me Roman. You can NOT under any circumstances go looking for her. If you find out where she is and you go looking to see her up close and personal and the Marshal Service finds out; they will re-locate her again in a matter of hours. There is only a handful of people who know she is still alive and where exactly her location is, but it's for her own safety...and yours."

"My safety? I'm a professional wrestler - who the hell would mess with me?" Roman questioned.

Dain shook his head. "Jeff Walker."

Roman sighed heavily. "Let me guess - Jeff Walker isn't dead either."

"Correct."

"WHAT THE FUCK IS ACTUALLY GOING ON DAIN?!" Roman roared as he stood up and started stalking around like a pissed off bull.

Dain stood up and held his hands out. "Whoa! Look Roman there was too much evidence that Jeff left behind that he was going to start going after you and your entire family. I know it doesn't sound like much but we couldn't take that chance not with MacKenzie's life or your life." Dain ran a hand through his cropped hair. "Jeff Walker disappeared with his money and his clothing, but he keeps popping up around Pensacola Florida - does that sound like a familiar place you live?" He asked as his eyebrows went up quizzically.

Dain sighed softly. "For right now you are safe and so is your family and so is MacKenzie. Once they zero in on Jeff and can get him arrested and in custody all MacKenzie has to do is testify at his trial and then she can leave the Witness Security Program if she wants or she can assume a whole new identity and disappear forever. It's really up to her." Dain explained.

"Until then secrets must be kept." Roman growled.

"Yes."


	3. Ch 3 When It's Over

**Chapter 3** – When It's Over

"I should kick your ass until hell won't have it anymore Kenzie!"

Deep blue eyes stared at the beige wall in the bedroom as she cringed. Dain had called her first thing this morning and gave her an ass chewing of a life time. She was still in bed when the phone rang. The familiar phone number flashed across the screen display as she sat up and chewed her bottom lip. Her knees drew into her chest as she hit the answer button and the first thing she heard was Dain growling into her ear.

Oh yea he was pissed.

Her silence was deafening.

"Okay I yelled and scolded so do you have anything to say for yourself?" Dain finally ran out of steam.

"Sometimes...I forget why I'm calling myself Lauren Walker. Other days I forget the name all together so when someone at the university calls my name I blank out and ignore them. I hate that I was basically coerced into signing myself into the witness security program. I miss Roman, I miss my friends...I miss my sister." MacKenzie sighed heavily. "I was invited out of the house for the first time in 2 1/2 years and I've got cabin fever so bad that hate the thought of coming back to an apartment that has been my home since I moved in. I hate this place, I hate my job, my hair, my eyes; I have not been truly happy in so long I almost forgot what it felt like to smile the minute I saw Roman at the live show. It was literally a one in a million shot at actually seeing him eye to eye."

"Kenzie, I know the Marshal who set this all up basically guilt tripped you into signing the papers, but you know why you're doing all of this. If we are going to achieve anything by putting you in Wit Sec then you are really going to have to watch what you're doing." Dain stressed. "I know it's been hard believe me I see the pain and grief on Alice's face anytime your name is mentioned, but imagine my surprise when Roman paid us a visit and told us he thought he was seeing a ghost."

"I knew the risk I was taking by even going to anything WWE related. I just couldn't stop myself - literally. I questioned my actions at least a thousand times that night while I was getting ready to leave. Every strand of dyed blonde hair that I had to straightened just seemed to piss me off even more than the strands before." MacKenzie stated as she shook her head. "I just want this whole mess to be over. I want Jeff to get caught or die or fall off the face of the earth and I want my life back. It could still take months or years before Jeff is ever found and I know I already lost Roman; I'll never be able to get him back. He will never understand why I signed the papers. Hell I barely understand it. I'm miserable here and I know I have no one to blame but myself."

MacKenzie hung up before Dain could say anymore as she tossed her phone back onto the nightstand and laid back down. She pulled the covers up over her head just trying to escape the madness.

* * *

 _"Miss Brewman don't you understand that if you don't sign the papers you are going to put a lot of people in danger." Deputy Marshal Holland stated more than asked. He'd been doing witness protection for years with the U.S. Marshal's._

 _"I understand that, but I don't want to leave my family and friends behind. Going into witness protection means I'm completely cut off from everyone; I have to go where ever you guys send me and start over as some nobody. What am I supposed to do being a paralegal is all I've ever been I don't have any training or education for anything else." MacKenzie argued. She didn't want to sign the papers she wanted to be put in a room and she wanted to see Roman._

 _Holland could already tell he was going to have to tighten his boot straps with this one; especially if he had any hope of keeping an eye on her for Jeff. He'd gone to college with Jeff Walker and they had been lifelong friends once Jeff had called him and filled him in on what was going he had no problems keeping tabs on his girl._

 _Once they moved her from the Emergency Room to Pre-Op they would only allow one agent in at a time so keeping Dain behind worked in his favor. Holland had made sure he was assigned to the case as far as the paperwork went, with Dain out of the way he could work his own magic._

 _He watched as the nurse came in and gave Miss Brewman her pain meds before they had to take her into surgery to close the two stab wounds. They had packed off the wounds with plenty of gauze so they had stopped puking blood all over, but she had lost a significant amount so she was already becoming anemic and the doctor's refused to put anymore blood in until surgery because it was all going to come right back out._

 _"Look Miss Brewman, your ex-fiancé already stabbed you and Mr. Reigns was attacked as well before Jeff Walker passed out." Holland lied smoothly._

 _MacKenzie's mind started speeding through her memories from that day. Unfortunately, she couldn't remember anything before waking up in the Emergency Room. "Roman! Oh my God, where's Roman?!" MacKenzie demanded. "What happened?" She asked in a frantic state as tears began to fill her eyes at the thought of Roman being caught in the middle of her drama once again. As if him getting arrested because of Jeff wasn't bad enough; now he'd been injured because of her._

 _"Mr. Reigns was stabbed in the chest several times and he is in stable but in critical condition; he will make a full recovery, but Miss Brewman do you really want to be responsible for anyone else being attacked for you." The Oscars would give him a little gold statue of his own for this performance. "Someone even has a bead on him going towards the west coast...you've got family there don't you? A sister I believe - Dain's wife right and their adorable twins and new baby." Holland paid attention when his fellow deputies talked about their families._

 _MacKenzie couldn't bear the thought of someone else getting caught up in the bullshit with Jeff. She sniffled as she took the pen from Deputy Holland and stared at the papers for a few seconds before she signed her name to it._

* * *

MacKenzie couldn't remember much after she'd be put under for surgery. She knew the doctor was going to put her in a medically induced coma and help her fake her death; the doctor explained everything once he entered the operating room.

Once she was pulled out of the medically induced coma she was released from the hospital 3 days later and Dain himself escorted her to the Albuquerque US Marshal's office where they explained the rules and got her moved into her apartment. It was only after Dain had her alone in the apartment that she broke down and asked how Roman was doing from his injuries. Dain wasn't completely sure what the hell she was talking about and when she started to sob and explain what Deputy Holland had told her he turned beet red with anger.

In no uncertain terms Dain told her Holland had lied to her to get her to sign the papers. Dain turned Holland into his superior officer but because Holland had more seniority in the US Marshals than him nothing was really done about it. They called it 'little white lies' that no one would care about as long as the witness was safe and now being protected.

Dain felt there was something off about Deputy Holland and of course it was complete bullshit but he could never find any dirt on him. He didn't trust him by any means, but decided to keep an eye on him indefinitely.

* * *

It had been 3 months since the whole WWE/Roman spotting MacKenzie debacle and finding out she was still alive and living under Witness Protection. Dain had finally called and spoken to MacKenzie at a decent speaking level rather than yelling at her. No one understood just how fucked of a deal she'd been coerced into more than Dain.

No one was happier more than MacKenzie to find out Roman hadn't really been attacked but at the same time no one was more pissed off for being lied to than MacKenzie as well. She would just have to bide her time. She would have to wait it all out and hope the US Marshals were as good at catching bad guys as they were at making witnesses disappear.

It was Friday just another day ending with another week having gone by. MacKenzie had just gotten home as she pulled her fake green eyes out and pulled her hair up into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. She looked down at her cell as it started to vibrate on the bathroom sink counter.

It was Dain calling. She sighed softly as she picked the phone up and hit the answer button. "Yea Dain, what's up?"

"MacKenzie, pack a bag, you've got a flight to catch. In an hour a Deputy from the Marshal's service will come to pick you up and escort you to me in Miami Florida. I will see you in 8 hours and I'll be able to tell you more than." Dain informed her quickly.

"But I..."

"Listen, just do as I said Kenzie. I will be able to tell you more when I see you in Miami." Dain interrupted.

MacKenzie looked at her phone as the call ended. She shook her head and wouldn't question anything Dain had requested. She put her contacts back in as she hurried up and got a bag packed. An hour later as stated a Deputy Marshal came to retrieve her.

She couldn't imagine what the hell was going on but she would pretty much do anything to get out of New Mexico at this point.

* * *

The flight was long but she at least slept some of the way. They had a layover in Texas, but she and Deputy Mitchell did not leave the plane. They spoke some of the time; she remembered he had been one of the Marshal's who helped her get settled when she first got to New Mexico. He was very nice with very little family.

Once they reached Miami they exited the plane and as soon as they walked down the gang plank and into the airport Dain came into sight. She smiled softly as she was enveloped into a warm hug before she turned and thanked Deputy Mitchell for escorting her. He was already booked for a return flight back to New Mexico.

Once Deputy Mitchell was out of sight, MacKenzie turned to Dain. "What the hell is going on?" She asked as Dain took her bag and began escorting her through the airport to his rental outside.

"I got a call from Deputy Holland last night. They found a body laying on Miami Beach sometime yesterday. He had Jeff's wallet on him. I don't know if he got himself into something he couldn't pull himself out of and he paid with his life or if this is just a giant hoax to get you out of hiding." Dain explained.

"Wait what?" MacKenzie stopped in her tracks before she could even get in the rented SUV. "So why am I here?"

"We are going to the coroner's office right now because they were supposed to do an autopsy and DNA testing on him. It looks like the body had been in the water for sometime because it is bloated and disfigured, I'm really hoping you can somewhat identify him." Dain stated as he finally got her in the rental and went around getting behind the wheel.

The ride to the coroner's office was made in silence. MacKenzie was wringing her hands in her lap as she watched the scenery as they passed it in the rental. She could feel her insides shaking.

Was it possible that this could really be over?

Could it really be THIS easy to end all the witness protection and she could get back to her real life...not that she had much of one left.

But she wasn't getting her hopes up.

* * *

Fake green eyes looked around the empty hallway in the Coroner's building. It smelled sterile...it smelled REALLY sterile. Before they walked into the morgue the Coroner opened a bottle of Vic's vapor rub and instructed her to put a dab under her nose, because she definitely didn't want to know what a dead body that had been partially eaten by sea life and basted in ocean water for two weeks smelled like.

Her eyes blinked as she took in the all too real sight in front of her. Both of the hands had been eaten off and something definitely ate one of his eyes. Dain hadn't been lying the body was so bloated it looked like Jeff had eaten a 30 foot burrito. The fish fed well off his body and she could honestly say it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

The corner confirmed through DNA testing and dental records that the dead half eaten rotting corpse on the metal autopsy table was indeed Jeff Walker.

MacKenzie stood staring at the body as tears silently slid down her cheeks. It was over. It was finally all over. She could go back to non-existent life and try to find some kind of normal again. She already knew there was no way Roman would want her to come back to him. She faked her own death and let herself be torn away from him.

She honestly had no plan for when it all ended and now here she was it was over and she didn't even know what steps to take next.

Dain drove MacKenzie back to the airport and got their flight headed to New Mexico; they boarded the plane and were sitting in silence. "What do I do now?" She murmured in question.

Dain looked over at his sister-in-law. "Now? Now you go back to that crappy apartment and pack everything you want to keep and you move anywhere in the world you want and start your life over. Work for a law firm or university or hell go back to school and get a new degree in something else." He sighed softly. "Your old law firm said they would love to get you back but that you don't have to live in Stamford; they said they would more than likely have you go back on the road with WWE again."

The possibilities were limitless; now she just had to decide.

* * *

Roman was sitting in his hotel room; the last few months had been MacKenzie filled memories of their past. He remembered telling Dain 'When it's over I want to talk to her.' Daily memories of the day she 'died' were always flashing through his mind. Nightmares plagued him for months. He never thought it would stop.

Roman's hotel phone rang as he answered it. "Yea?"

"Oh my fuckin God Bro! Are you watching the news? Tell me you are watching the fuckin news?" Dean babbled in the phone. "Hello Are you hearing me?"

Jenaya reached over and smacked Dean in the back of the head. "I'm sure if you gave him a minute he'd answer you." She reached over and grabbed the phone. "Sorry you know how over excited he gets now a days."

She took a deep breath. "The news is reporting that a body wash up on shore...Roman - they are saying it's Jeff."


	4. Ch 4 It Ain't Easy

**Chapter 4** – It Ain't Easy

MacKenzie had been moved into her new apartment in Chicago for the last two months. It still felt foreign to her that she didn't have to be in that town in the desert anymore with that; not crappy tutoring job per say, because at least it was a job. Her old Law Firm in Stamford had branched out and she was back working for her old boss Robert. She didn't feel quite at home yet, but she was definitely getting there.

She had finally got her hair re-dyed back to its original color. Some of the bounce in her curls was gone; the lady at the hair salon said it was probably from being dyed and straightened so much. She was really hoping it would come back after it had been left alone after some time.

Deep sea blue eyes stared at the paint samples. It had taken a couple of weekends off but she was finally happy with the furnishings in her new apartment; now if she could just get the damn coloring on the paint going her way it would be perfect. She'd gone with a coca-cola theme in her kitchen everything was white and red. Her living room was nice warm earthy tones. Her bathrooms were beach themed. Now if she could just get her bedroom done and the spare room she'd be golden.

It had been 8 weeks since she was actually freed from her Witness Protection hell. The first week had been spent in Sacramento getting re-acquainted with her sister, brother-in-law and her nieces and nephew; only to find out her sister was pregnant with baby #4. Alice never could hide when she was pregnant between the crazy magical glow and her cravings for Chinese and Indian food it always gave away her secrets.

It was strange being back in the land of the living. The last two and a half years didn't feel like she was living at all. She had her normal paralegal job back working with Robert again; lord how she had missed working with that man. No one really understood her the way he did. He had recruited her right out of college and never looked back or seconds guessed his decision.

MacKenzie was enjoying yet another weekend off as she munched on pizza and diet coke. She just couldn't make up her mind as to what colors she really wanted in her bedroom. A knock on her front door pulled her from her paint sample dilemma. She tossed her piece of pizza back onto her plate as she took a sip of diet coke to rinse her mouth before she walked over and opened the door.

Deep sea blue eyes widened as she came face to face with Roman. He no longer had his grey contacts and his chocolate brown orbs were absolutely beautiful. She'd seen him a few times without his contacts when they were dating, but normally he always had his contacts in. Apparently he was going for a more natural look now. He was still gorgeous as ever from head to toe.

"Roman..."

She really hadn't been expecting to see him. She blinked a couple of times as her mouth opened and closed on its own accord. "Did you want to come in?" She chewed her bottom lip as she moved aside when he nodded as an answer to her question. She watched as his hulking frame moved gracefully through the door and into the living room.

Roman had to admit she looked cute as hell with jean overalls and a white t-shirt on; both were splattered with different colors of paint. Her hair was back to its original color up in a messy bun and the green contacts were gone...Thank God! The green contacts just did not match her at all; even with the fake blonde hair.

MacKenzie blinked once again before she closed the door behind him and watched as he walked over to the couch. "Have some pizza or would you like a beer or something to drink." She knew what he liked and would offer anything to get the tension in the air to ease, but she already knew that was going to happen. She already knew Roman had come to yell; he came to let her know that lying about her death to him had completely ruined everything between them. And honestly she couldn't blame him.

"No I don't think drinking and eating is on the agenda today." Roman's deep voice rumbled. He watched as she nodded.

"Have a seat please." She offered as she watched him pull at his jean covered thigh before sitting. She walked over and sat on the opposite end of the couch; making sure she put plenty of space between them. This was not going to be a fun visit. "It's um - It's good to see you looking so healthy." She stated softly.

Roman snorted. "Yes well - it's good to see you looking so alive."

Ouch - that hurt; truthful but it didn't hurt any less.

"I guess I deserved that." Kenzie stated softly.

"And so much more MacKenzie. You deserve so much more than just that small smart assed come back." Roman stated honestly. "Two and a half years Kenzie. Two and a half years I thought your body was rotting in a cemetery in Sacramento. Your brother-in-law and your sister both knew you were alive and well living in some crappy desert town in New Mexico. They both looked at me like they couldn't pity me enough when I went for visits." Roman ground out.

"I never meant for any of this to happen Roman. You have to believe me." MacKenzie said sincerely. "After everything that Jeff put me and then you and our friends through I didn't know what else I could do. Then the US Marshal's came into the ER before I went into surgery and told me Jeff's body went missing and that he was more than likely still alive and gunning for me and everyone associated with me. I didn't have any options."

"Options? You wanted more options than not pretending you died. Sure keep living, marry me and let me be in charge of protecting you. Or keep living, move in with me and keep living our lives. Do you have any idea what it was like burying the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with? I don't even know what to tell our friends; they have NO idea you're still alive. When I saw you at the house show I started spouting crazy shit and they started thinking I lost my fuckin mind. Not only am I crazy but now they think I'm seeing the ghost of my dead girlfriend." Roman growled.

"You weren't supposed to see me. I didn't bank on you fighting out in the crowd during your match." MacKenzie stated as she stood from the couch and walked over to the big window next to her TV. "And what kind of life could we have possibly had always having to look over our shoulders just waiting for Jeff to come out of hiding and attack. Hell he basically booby trapped your entire house and watched every move we made. He was 10 steps ahead of us and we didn't even know about any of the steps until the day he black mailed me into going back to Stamford, Connecticut. He monitored everything with our cell phones; he knew who we were calling, texting, e-mailing. He knew everything. He even had some guy with a sniper rifle outside of your house in case I didn't show up or if I tried telling you what was really going on."

"So why not ask me to go into witness protection with you?" Roman asked. "I would've given up everything to keep you safe. This whole career didn't really mean anything without you around. After everything we went through; you just threw it all away."

"Let's be real Roman. You are a highly public figure working for one of the biggest companies in the United States. You are known all over the world. How the hell does witness protection hide a 6'3" 265 lbs Samoan wrestler? You wanted to what; shave your head and grow a full beard and hide your tribal tattoos...maybe stay out in the sun too long so your skin is a nice golden brown or get it bleached so you can look like that big Irish meathead on the roster?" She sighed heavily. "That's not you Roman. You don't hide from anything or anyone. You can stand here and say you wanted to go into hiding with me but it's not you and it never would have been. You would've been just as miserable as I was and I wasn't going to put that kind of blame on myself."

"At least I would've been miserable with you and not completely miserable without you. Not depressed and trying to figure out how to keep my life on track without you in it. The first six months I spent most of my time on my days off flying to and from Sacramento because that's where I thought you were. I couldn't go not even a week without going to your grave." Roman confessed verbally. "So how long were you having the time of your life in New Mexico?" Roman asked in a snide tone.

Kenzie turned to face Roman who was now standing in the middle of her living room. "Well if you are under the impression that I was having some kind of party in New Mexico; let me re-assure you I was not." Kenzie sighed heavily. She knew this was going to be hard, but didn't think it would be this hard. "I was there the whole time. I worked at the University in the law library as a tutor. It wasn't exactly my ideal job, but it was better than getting a job at McDonald's and making 'you want fries with that' my life motto."

"Yea I can see how terrible it would've been to just not pretend you were dead. You seemed to have had the time of your life alone in some ratty desert state. Why couldn't you just trust me to protect you?" Roman asked in a sullen tone.

She could see his eyebrows had dropped practically to the bridge of his nose which meant he was getting pissed off fast. The longer they stood there making snarky comments back and forth the more pissed off he would get. She also know the more she stood there not getting upset by the fact that he was pissed would piss him off even more.

"Look, it wasn't that I didn't trust you. Trust between us was never an issue." MacKenzie pointed out. "You might not believe it, but I did it to protect you."

Roman snorted again. "You were protecting me? What the hell could I possibly need to be protected from?" Okay he said that with too much of a cocky tone. "And how could you possibly protect me?" Yup cocky tone still present.

MacKenzie could tell Roman's dominant side was surfacing. His voice had deepened and his snarky tone was turning cocky. He was just as stubborn as she was; probably more because of his dominant side. "You know sometimes even superman has to be protected from the things he can't see. And eventually you won't be mad at the way I deceived you and our friends." She sighed softly as she walked over and started cleaning up the pizza; suddenly she didn't have much of an appetite. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings and wounded your pride, but don't think that I enjoyed being away from you. I hated every single second I couldn't be by your side. I might have been in some shitty little desert town; anywhere from 10 miles to thousands of miles from you, but you were always on my mind. And you can believe that or not."

"You want me to seriously stand here and take at face value that you did all this bullshit deceiving just to protect me?" Roman grumbled. "I find that very hard to believe."

"I was protecting you, I was protecting our friends; I was protecting your family. After all the stuff I personally told you about Jeff Walker's reach in the states, you still don't believe me? He has more money than God and yet suddenly I'm the liar? This is a man who disappeared WITHOUT the US Marshal's help; without witness protection. Hell his body never even made it to the coroner's office in Stamford, but I'm still the liar." MacKenzie shook her head as she pushed the pizza box into the fridge before throwing away her empty Diet Coke can.

"What do you want me to say MacKenzie? You lied to me for the last two and a half years. I thought you were dead. I mourned the loss of your life and so did our friends. Now suddenly you pop up and everything is just supposed to be groovy between us?" Roman shook his head negatively. "Unfortunately that's not the way it works in the real world. These last few months I've been sitting at home trying to think of everything I wanted to say to you if I ever got the chance to speak to you again then I started thinking back to after your funeral and what I would've said then and believe me it's two completely different conversations."

"So tell me what it is you want from me? Would you rather I fake my death again and disappear and you not know where I was for good? I mean I can do that if you want. The law firm has been throwing around the idea to open an office in Europe. I mean at least there you run less of a chance running into me than here in the states. If you never want to see me again it's simple Roman it really is; walk out the door." MacKenzie frowned. "I'm not telling you to leave, because you have no idea how happy I was to see you standing on the other side of my apartment door when you got here, but if you really want nothing more to do with me, that you are that mad and that bitter about what I chose to do to keep you, our friends, and your family safe then it's on you to leave and never come back, because I'll be damned if I let you scare me out of my own apartment. It took me months and months to stop being afraid of my own shadow because of the hell Jeff Walker put me through. I refuse to EVER let another man do that to me again."

Roman walked over to the front door before he turned back and looked at the love of his life. Was he really willing to just walk away from her after her missing from his life for two and a half years? The answer was yes. He was really pissed for being lied to for so long about her death. He wanted to believe he was just as easy as telling the truth; even though none of it was ever that easy, especially where Jeff Walker was concerned. "I'm pissed as hell but more than anything MacKenzie; I'm heartbroken. And that is something I have never been."

"Yes well it wasn't easy breaking your heart."

Those were the last words Roman heard before he walked out of MacKenzie's apartment.


	5. Ch 5 The Road I'm On

**Chapter 5** – The Road I'm On

Alive!

MacKenzie was alive.

That's all his mind kept repeating as he sat in the gym working his entire body into a nasty soppy sweat covered mess. He was pushing his muscles until he knew he would feel the burn for days. He was pissed off more than anything and it would be a cold day in hell before he admitted to anyone that he was even hurt to find out MacKenzie had lied to him.

To him!

Of all people.

He loved her like he had no other woman in his life. Even after dating several different women over the course of a year or so, it was still impossible to find anyone that made him feel the way he did when he was with her. No one brought out his dominant side better than her and no one made him want to be a better man than her either.

The funny thing about MacKenzie with his dominant side, he could switch it on or just leave it behind when it came to her. Everything about her screamed to him. She really had been a natural submissive and once she'd submitted to him fully he knew he had her, which was why he knew he didn't have to push his dominant side on her; once she let go he knew she'd never want anyone else and he knew he'd never need anyone else.

That was probably the part that pissed him off the most. Here was this beautiful woman who accepted everything about him and loved him and he could feel her soul intertwining with his and then suddenly she was gone. He felt like he lost his own soul rather than just losing his soul mate. He didn't feel like a whole man and hadn't since she'd been gone; which was probably why any woman he'd tried dating since her couldn't handle him and didn't want to.

The music in the hotel gym changed and Roman switched gears as he moved to the next piece of equipment and began working his thighs and calf muscles.

He really was going to feel the burn in every muscle for the next few days, but he had to get his head wrapped around the fact that, yes MacKenzie was alive and yes, she had been alive all this time. Not only all of that but Roman still needed to break the news to their friends. He was sure all the males wouldn't have much to say and would go off his reaction, but Charisma and Jenaya would be heartbroken.

Charisma and Jimmy had named MacKenzie and himself as her God parents. His and MacKenzie's God Daughter Kenia had grown up the last couple of years seeing pictures of MacKenzie, but wasn't old enough to know about death yet…thank God.

Jenaya and MacKenzie had gotten extremely close and the two thought of each other as sisters, the same with Charisma and MacKenzie. Roman couldn't even imagine what everyone's reaction would be.

Roman was torn between telling everyone she was still alive or just saying screw it and pretend he never figured any of it out. If they never ran into her they would never know and as long as she stayed in Chicago then he'd never have to explain anything to them.

No he was going to have to tell them…and soon.

* * *

Deep sea blue eyes looked across the desk as she took a bite of her pesto and roasted chicken sandwich. MacKenzie and Robert were having lunch in his office as they were reading over depositions for one of his cases. "Roman came to see me." She stated softly once she swallowed the bite in her mouth.

Robert's brown eyes snapped up from his meatball sandwich. "You're shitting me right?" He asked and watched as she shook her head negatively. "How did that go?" He inquired.

"Oh you can only imagine." She said with a smirk. "He started off calm and ended something close to one of those charging bulls in Spain; running after anyone wearing red. I can't tell what bothers him more the fact I lied about being dead to protect him or not trusting him enough to protect me."

"MacKenzie honey." Robert addressed with a chuckle. "Roman is a man. Being forced to believe the love of your life is dead; mourning her, trying to figure out how to continue your life without her and wishing you could've been there to protect her only to find out she lied to protect you is a direct shot to the male ego. Every man in this world wants to believe they can protect the woman they love against anything that's thrown at them in life; or at least want to be given a chance to."

MacKenzie shook her head negatively. "I couldn't take that chance with his life. Robert you know me. After everything Jeff has put me and my friends and family through I never thought I would ever find someone I loved so much ever again. And then I met Roman." She swallowed hard as the tears filled her eyes. "And he changed everything. Dean, Roman and his twin cousins they - they taught me how to protect myself. They taught me how to fight for…me! And when it came time to make a decision in the Emergency room. That Marshal was standing there lying to my face telling me, Roman was barely hanging on because Jeff had attacked him. The decision was easy; even when I was being coerced into it. The decision to save his life because he had saved mine; whether he knew what he'd done for me or not. I'm not saying living in Witness Protection was easy, because believe me it was no party. I hated every second of it. I missed everyone so much. I hated lying, but I'd rather be a liar than see my friends and the man I was madly in love with dead because of Jeff Walker."

"And now he's dead and you're…" Robert stated softly.

"Alone." MacKenzie finished his thought. "Alone, but alive. And so is everyone else who was in my life before this whole bullshit debacle started. And I would rather have them alive than be mourning them because I couldn't get Jeff separated from us without disappearing." She blinked and wiped the stray tears that slid down her cheeks. "I would go through dying all over again if it meant saving at least one of them." She licked her dry lips. "I know I've probably lost my friends and I've probably lost Roman and that is a pain I'm going to have to get through, but at least they are all alive. I don't know if I could say that had I not done the witness protection program. I just wasn't willing to take the chance."

She was never willing to take that chance.

* * *

Several pairs of eyes were watching as Roman paced back and forth in the hotel room. It was very rare that Roman invited anyone to his room after live events or house shows; with the exception of football on Sundays. He'd called everyone about an hour ago after he'd finished his workout and asked them to come to his room.

Jenaya looked at Dean before she looked over at Jimmy and Jey. "Okay well you're his best friend and you two are his cousins. Why is he pacing like a caged animal?" She asked in a concerned tone from her spot on Dean's lap.

Jimmy and Jey were both sitting on the edge of the couch with their elbows resting on their knees. Jimmy shook his head. "No telling with Roman."

Jey's brown eyes watched his cousin's movements closely. "Something is on his mind and he's gotta get something off his chest." Jey and Roman would spend time together strategizing about in ring movements.

Charisma smiled softly as she gently rubbed Jimmy's forearm. "We just have to wait it out. Roman will talk when he's ready."

"Big cat will spill when he's down for it. We just have to be patient." Dean put in his two cents.

Jenaya gently ran her fingers through Dean's auburn blonde hair. "So we wait…"

"We wait." Dean murmured against Jenaya's ear.

They didn't have to wait long as Roman walked over and stood in front of his friends. His hands perched on his hips. "I know me pacing like a caged animal is not helping but what I have to tell you…Well I not really sure how you all are going to react. Though I'm sure it's going to be something akin to the way I did." He exhaled heavily as he looked at all the eyes staring at him.

Jey frowned. "What do you mean what you have to tell us? Uce whatever you have to tell us couldn't be that bad."

Roman rolled his shoulders before he shook his head negatively. "You guys remember when I said there was a fan out in the crowd in Albuquerque that looked like MacKenzie?" He asked in a clipped tone and watched as they all nodded. "Well it was her. MacKenzie is alive."

Jimmy leaned forward more. "Excuse me? I could've sworn you just said MacKenzie was alive. Now that is friggen impossible; we buried her almost 3 years ago."

Roman shook his head. "No, she faked her death with the help of the US Marshal's and she's been under witness protection since. Jeff Walker somehow survived her shooting him and his body never made it to the morgue."

"Excuse me?" Jenaya asked as she stood from Dean's lap. "Did you just say she faked her death? Why the fuck would she fake her death? Why would she put all of us through that?" Jenaya demanded; now she was pissed. First she was worried but now - now she was pissed off.

Dean made a face. "Jenaya, let the big man finish before she started blowing off." He watched as she huffed out and planted her hands on her hips.

Roman shook his head. "She claimed she did it to protect all of us."

Charisma lifted a dark shaped eyebrow. "And what? You don't believe her?" She asked with a smack of her lips.

Roman looked at the mother of his and MacKenzie's God Daughter. "What am I supposed to think Char? The woman I was in love with faked her death, lied to all of us and went into witness protection, but can't really give me any other answers. And when I say she lied to all of us; that includes you too." Roman so eloquently pointed out.

Charisma shook her head. "I'm sorry but you can stand here and be pissed off and believe she did it maliciously but if she said she did it to protect us, then she did." Charisma stepped forward and stopped in front of Roman. "And if you think any differently then Roman Reigns you are a big fat fool."

"And why is that Charisma? How can you not be pissed off? She put us through hell we all mourned in our own way. Shit I still cry on her birthday and the day of her death." Jenaya stated. "How can you just ignore all of it?"

Charisma crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll tell you how I can ignore it." Her eyes danced between Roman and Jenaya. "Because 2 1/2 years ago I lost a woman from my life who was like a sister to me and as well to you. So we thought she was dead. How can you not be happy to know she's not really dead? You have a sister back. My daughter has her God Mother back." Charisma shook her head. "I'm not trying to be self righteous or anything, but if you had to make a snap decision to fake your death to save your friends and family would you do it? I sure as hell would. MacKenzie had a big heart and putting friends and family first was always her number one priority. She wasn't trying to hurt anyone."

Roman pinched the bridge of his nose. "Get off the soap box Charisma. There is no one in this room who can say for certain what they would do in a split seconds notice."

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way Roman. You know, I understand you are probably hurting. I understand all of you are probably hurting from this. But if she has said she did it to protect us; I'd like to know what she was protecting us from first and foremost. Second, would you rather she tell a lie and still be alive or would you rather her really be dead?" Charisma asked softly.

"Yes it hurts like hell Charisma. I have had this hole in my chest for the last 2 1/2 years and it has NEVER gone away. Every day I woke up after we buried MacKenzie; all I could think about was how the fuck am I supposed to get through the God damn day without her. I loved her so much and I didn't have nearly enough time with her and no I am not afraid to say I'm glad she is really not dead, but at what price? We could've been married by now and just starting a family. I wanted it all with her and she just threw it all away for a lie."

"So she threw it all away for a lie as you say - so you don't think she was doing it for your protection; or my protections? Or any of our protection?" Charisma asked. "Pain and hurt is only temporary in life and it lets you know you are still alive for as long as you feel it. I mean did you even hear her when she was talking to you or were you so mad you couldn't get fully into the conversation? I know you Roman. I've been in your family since I started dating Jimmy and even more now that I'm married into the family. When you get mad there is no changing your mind ever." Charisma pointed out truthfully.

Jimmy stood up as he snapped Charisma by the hip. "Char is right Uce. If your Samoan temper takes over you wouldn't hear anything she had to say. You need to calm yourself and go see her again and this time; tell her to explain everything from the beginning. I bet the second time around you will hear plenty of shit you didn't hear before." He rarely got involved with his cousin's love life, but everyone knew exactly how'd he'd fallen for MacKenzie. Sometimes it helped to go into a meeting with a fresh outlook."

Jenaya spun around and pointed at Dean. "Don't even tell me you think about taking anyone else's side but mine until we get the full damn story!" She threatened.

Dean chuckled as he held his hands up in surrender. "Yea right." He would verbally agree with Jenaya but she already knew Dean was too laid back to really give a shit. He watched as Jenaya started to say something else before he made a face and tossed her over his shoulder caveman style. "Pipe down pipsqueak, let the big man figure it out." Dean looked at Roman. "Stay steady on the road and get answers to all your questions bro."

Roman bumped his fist against Dean as he nodded. "It's the same road I've been on." He said to no one in particular as he tried to figure out how to approach MacKenzie next.


	6. Ch 6 Going Down

**Chapter 6** – Going Down

Deep sea blue eyes blinked. She had been awake for a few hours now staring at the ceiling. Yup it was the same color it was a couple of hours ago…same color it was last night when she went to bed. Her dreams had been plagued with Roman all night.

Mackenzie sighed softly as she got out of bed. It had been 3 months since Roman had come to her apartment and they hashed stuff out. Honestly they didn't really hash anything out; Roman growled and ignored everything she basically said. She tried to explain everything to him, but he wasn't having it. Sometimes he could be slightly stubborn…not that she could blame him at that point.

She saw where Roman had been suspended for 30 days for failing the WWE's Wellness Program in June. She could ONLY imagine how he'd done that; it also caused him to lose his WWE Championship title…clearly punishment from Vince was being dished out. But on an upside she was happy to see Dean holding the prestigious belt.

Around the same time Vince had decided it was time to split the roster up again and have separate superstars for Raw and Smackdown. Dean went to Smackdown with the title and Roman stayed on Raw.

In September, he won the Unite States Championship and now in mid-October he was still carrying it around on his shoulder. She really wanted to send him a congratulation text…card…something, but thought better of it. She wasn't trying to piss off his Samoan side.

October brought rainy and cold ass weather to Chicago. She hated the winter but she loved the fall. The snow and icy roads were going to be hell on her, but she could live anywhere but the damn desert again. It wasn't quite Halloween yet, but she was excited about that; she loved Halloween it was her favorite holiday.

She shimmied into some skinny jeans before she slipped into a grey wrap around sweater and slipped on some knee high grey suede boots. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. She needed a Halloween costume. Vince in all his celebrating glory invited the entire law firm to the annual WWE Halloween party. She and Robert had already decided to go as a famous couple and Robert had already gotten his costume now she just had to find hers.

Mackenzie ate a quick breakfast and put her coffee in a travel mug as she headed to the front door; she opened the door and her deep sea blue eyes widened as she stopped in her tracks.

"Roman…"

She couldn't believe her eyes. She chewed her bottom lip as she moved aside and allowed him to enter her apartment. "What - what can I do for you?" She didn't know what else to ask him.

Roman turned around to face her. God why did she have to be so beautiful still? Why couldn't the two years she'd been missing from his life made her older with more wrinkles and terrible gravity given her kankles? Why couldn't she be hideously ugly with a third eye in the middle of her forehead? "I need you to explain it to me. I need you to tell me the whole story from the beginning."

"What's there to really explain? I told you everything the last time you were here. Did you seem to think the story would change somehow?" Mackenzie asked.

Roman sighed through his nose. "Just humor me Mackenzie." He stated in a demanding tone.

Kenzie was slightly taken back; he never really called her by her full name. His voice had a tone of finality in it. "Fine, I'll go over it once more, do you want to sit or just stand here?"

She watched as Roman took up space on her black microfiber couch. She walked over and sat in the chair in the corner as she looked at Roman. Damn those eyes of his. Whether they were grey from his contacts or chocolate brown with his clear contacts they always looked so expressive and gave away his moods.

She was going to sit but stood from the chair as she began to pace in front of Roman. "After I was taken to the emergency room…some…asshole from the Marshall's service came into my pre-op room and watched as the nurse gave me pain medicine and proceeded to talk faster than I could keep up with." She sighed heavily as she rubbed her forehead. "I was becoming anemic from the loss of blood and he kept fighting me on signing the papers."

Roman's eyebrows dropped to the bridge of his nose indicating he was getting pissed off. "Where the fuck was Dain?" He asked roughly.

Mackenzie rolled her lips. "Apparently they were only letting one person into see me in pre-op and this jack wagon from the Marshall's service decided it was going to be him." She licked her dry lips as she continued pacing again. "He also took it upon himself to lie his ass off and tell me you'd been attacked as well. He told me you were barely hanging on by a thread and if I didn't want anyone else to be caught in the destruction path, I would sign over my life to the Marshall's."

She stopped and looked at Roman; her hand flung out in the air before slapping down against her jean covered thigh. "The son of a bitch even went as far as to tell me Jeff was seen going to the West Coast towards Alice and the twins and McKenna."

Mackenzie shook her head negatively. "I didn't know what else to do Roman. My head was foggy from the blood loss so I signed my life over to witness protection."

Roman growled slightly. "But why witness protection?" He questioned.

"I didn't have a lot of options; no one else was standing in line to help. I didn't see any other protection agency coercing me into giving up my life to protect my boyfriend, my boyfriend's family and my friends…our friends. Sorry I had to go with whoever was first in line." Mackenzie smarted off.

Roman stood up with another growl. "I was there I had been standing at front of the line the whole time we were together."

"You weren't there Roman. You might have been at the head of the line but you were not there. According to Marshall Asshole you were in a separate room barely hanging on for your life…so no you weren't there and at the end of the day you might think I made the wrong choice, but I'm not sorry I made the decision I made. I did what I thought would help keep you alive and at the end of the day that is all I ever wanted was you still alive; alive to breathe air and spend time with your family and party with your friends and stay alive to entertain your fans and travel the world and eventually grow old."

Mackenzie walked into the kitchen as she rinsed out her coffee travel mug before putting it in the dishwasher. "You know I'm sorry you got hurt and I wounded your pride by choosing someone else to protect me and you, but I'm not sorry for making that decision. We're both still alive and at the end of the day isn't that what we both really want?" She turned as she walked over and grabbed her backpack purse before slinging it over her shoulder and snatching her keys off the table by the front door.

Mackenzie turned and faced Roman. "I still love you Roman and I'm probably stupid for that, but I never stopped loving you. And you can hate me the rest of your life, but you tell me what was I supposed to do? If the roles were reversed and your wounds were puking blood and you had some asshole Marshall in your face lying about everything around you; you tell me what you would've done. Because if you would've done anything less than what I did then you are lying to no one but yourself."

Roman shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. "I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have signed my life away. I wouldn't have walked away and FAKED my own death and put my friends and boyfriend through months and months of pain. I wouldn't have been a selfish bitch and thought of no one but myself." Roman stated honestly.

"I'm a selfish bitch?" Mackenzie questioned as she pointed to herself. "I signed the papers to have all of you watched because Jeff Walker did not die that day. He disappeared off the face of the earth; he secretly stalked all of you and paid off hitmen that the Marshall's service intercepted to keep all of you alive. I lived in solitude in New Mexico for 2 years. And I'm the selfish bitch." She shook her head negatively. "I'm sorry you feel that way Roman."

"You know I was on my way out before you go here. I have something I have to go do. You can stay if you want or you can leave either way I don't care. If you leave lock the door behind you please; I don't want to come home with half my stuff missing." Mackenzie turned and left her apartment. She couldn't stand there any longer looking at the man she was still in love with calling her a selfish bitch. She could feel the tears pricking the back of her eyes as she got on the elevator. As she waited for the doors to close she looked up and saw Roman standing in the middle of the hallway staring back at her from in front of her apartment door.

She couldn't help as she blinked and a few tears escaped her eyes as the doors closed; finally ending the horrible conversation. She didn't know what else to say or do. She didn't know how else to explain it.

Maybe she was a selfish bitch and she just didn't know it.

* * *

Roman couldn't believe he'd verbally attacked her again. What the actual fuck was wrong with him? Yes his pride was hurt because she hadn't picked him to protect her, but after she'd explained everything to him for a second time in black and white right in front of his face and he still attacked her.

He had diarrhea of the mouth he literally opened his gob and shit poured out on the woman he was still in love with. He had tried desperately to connect with a few different women but nothing ever came of it. Either they really didn't understand what it meant to be in a Dom/cub relationship or they were into kinkier fetishes that had NOTHING to do with the way he was.

He looked at his watch; he still had time to catch his flight to Sacramento. If anyone could give him real answers it would be Dain. Ever since he'd found out Mackenzie was still alive from Dain and Alice and then once he found out she was out of witness protection he knew going to Dain and Alice for some answers would be ok now; and now was the right time to go before he really ended up losing Mackenzie because of his Samoan temper and big fat mouth.

* * *

Midnight blue eyes crinkled in the corners as she swung the front door open and saw the 6'3" Samoan standing on her welcome mat. "Roman! What on earth are you doing here?" Alice greeted as she pushed up on her tip toes to hug the hulking man.

Roman smiled softly as he nodded and returned her hug gently. "I came to talk with Dain if it's possible."

Alice nodded. "He's out in the garage working on the new Call of Duty. His stress level is at an all time high right now, but I think if you give him a run for his money on that damn game he just might calm down enough to help you with whatever you need. I'm making steak and pasta and you are staying for dinner. I won't take no for an answer."

Roman chuckled. Alice never once let him ever leave without having a home cooked meal. "Yes ma'am." Roman made his way through the house and out to the garage where he could hear Dain cussing up a storm. "Damn bro, you sound like me with that game."

Dain jumped slightly before he stood up. "Jesus Christ! Roman wear a bell man! It's good to see you. God Damn every time I see you - you seem to get bigger; you're a big sucker now." Dain shook Roman's hand as he slapped his shoulder. Roman sat in the huge leather chair next to Dain's. "So is this like the talk bro?" He asked Roman with a knowing look.

Roman nodded. "I…damn it. I just left Mackenzie in Chicago and I'm not going to lie I'm an asshole. Two times I've gone to visit her now since she came out of witness protection and she has explained it to me numerous times and each time I've verbally attacked her and made her feel like a piece of shit. I don't know if I can't wrap my head around all of it or what but I need your help man."

Dain nodded as he stood up and walked over to the corner of the garage where there were some white boxes stacked up. He pulled a huge sealed manila envelope out and walked back over. "What I'm about to show you stays between us. It doesn't leave the house…hell it doesn't leave the garage and you tell Alice nothing." He watched as Roman nodded before he tossed the envelope on the coffee table in front of the big Samoan. "That is the entire file on Mackenzie. No one at the Marshall's service knows I got it except my boss."

Roman opened the envelope and carefully dumped the contents out on the coffee table. He slowly started sifting through it and the first thing he came to was her original contract that she had signed. The signature honestly - looked as if a 3 year old had scribbled on a wall with an ink pen. "The Marshall's service really accepted this signature as hers?" Roman questioned.

Dain growled slightly. "The dickhead who basically forced her into signing it said she was under heavy sedation; which we later found out it wasn't sedation it was blood loss she was so anemic from blood loss she couldn't even form words to protest and one of the ER nurses swears up and down he basically put the pen in her hand and his hand over hers and faked the signature."

"So why even accept it; especially if a nurse is claiming something different." Roman asked as his eyebrows went straight to the bridge of his nose.

"I started doing some research on the Marshall." Dain said through clenched teeth. "We think he is a dirty Marshall and we think he's been in contact with Jeff Walker from the day he disappeared. We haven't been able to prove anything yet, but my boss gave me the file and told me to start digging. Keep looking through the file you will find some interesting shit in there." Dain advised.

And dig Roman did.

He found not one or two or ten hitmen; he found fifty that the Marshall's service stopped from killing not only various family members and friends of his and Mackenzie but stopped them from killing him and Mackenzie as well. There were pictures of each one and the prisons they were located at not to mention files on each one pertaining to where they were found, how they were stopped and even how much they had been paid for the hit.

Roman blanched at all the information lying in front of him. "How in the fuck would they know where Mackenzie was if she was under your protection under an assumed name in a foreign city and state under lock and key?" He asked softly.

"Dirty Marshall." Dain scoffed. "Like I said I haven't been able to prove any of it yet. But I'm building a hell of a finger pointing case right now. I'm just waiting for that one specific detail to pop up out of thin air and then I'm nailing the mother fucker to the wall. He's supposed to be a seasoned Marshall, but so far he seems to be the master mind behind keeping Walker alive and well hidden until his body washed up on the beach all those months ago. Walker had to of pissed someone off down the line. I don't give a shit of Jeff Walker is dead or not, I'm going to nail that Marshall for everything I can throw at him."

Dain looked over at Roman. "Because in the end…one of us is going down and it won't be me."


	7. Ch 7 Stop Crying Your Heart Out

**Chapter 7** – Stop Crying Your Heart Out

They flew into Hartford, Connecticut for Monday Night Raw. After Raw Vince was having his Halloween Party. Robert didn't mind going but he knew Mackenzie was on the fence about the whole thing. She loved Halloween costume parties and never turned one down, but tonight was definitely going to be interesting.

Mackenzie felt very uncomfortable. She could already fill the anxiety filling her body. The nearly skin tight black dress she wore was the perfect match to the black pinstripe suit that Robert had on. She guessed if she was going to go to this party with anyone it would be Robert. He would help keep her grounded and keep her anxiety down…hopefully.

Robert looked down at their costumes. "What possessed you to dress us up as Morticia and Gomez Addams?" He asked with a chuckle.

Mackenzie laughed as she took his offered elbow and fell in step with Robert to the back door of the arena. "They are a classic couple. I don't know anyone who didn't love watching the Addam's Family growing up." She pointed out as Robert opened the door and they stepped through. "Robert, promise me something before we keep going."

"Anything Kenz."

"Don't let me fall in here." Mackenzie requested. She watched as Robert nodded. He already knew what she was talking about so there was no need to explain any further.

* * *

Roman couldn't believe he was going to this stupid Halloween party that Vince decided to throw after Raw. But then again everyone in WWE knew the old man loved his company parties. He pulled on jeans and a shit t-shirt, before pulling a black hoodie over his head. He'd pulled his hair back into a tight bun at the nap of his neck to keep it out of his face. As he stood he grabbed the hockey mask and the fake plastic machete.

Roman just about died laughing as his twin cousins came walking into his locker room. "What the fuck are you two supposed to be?"

Jimmy and Jey were dressed in identical blue skirts with pink pleats and pink belts, and blue long sleeved half shirts with white cuffs around their wrists and white collars around their neck each showing off their torsos; around their neck was a pink blue and white British flag tie. They each had a black and red streaked wig on with their hair in pig tails and pink pom-poms in their hair. They had pink thigh highs on with white knee high go-go boots.

Jimmy chuckled as he and Jey turned around and they had on matching white and grey backpacks Jimmy's said Fook Yu and Jey's said Fook Mi.

And just to make things even funnier Charisma walked into the locker room in a blue velvet suit, with a white dress shirt under the blue velvet jacket and a fluffy, ruffle filled dickey around her neck. Her hair was shoved up under a dirty blonde men's wig and thick black rimmed glasses on her face. She did a couple of pelvis thrusts. "Yeah Baby!"

Roman was practically rolling on the floor. He couldn't stay standing up as he plopped back down into a metal fold up chair. "Good God you three are insane. And you two…" He pointed at his cousins. "You two are going to give me nightmares for the rest of the week…maybe even the rest of my life. I haven't decided yet."

Charisma gave Roman the finger. "I worked very hard on this costume and so did your cousins." Charisma strutted around the locker room a little as she moved her pelvis again.

Roman couldn't stop the laughter. A few minutes later and he watched as Dean and Jenaya walked into his locker room as well. Dean had on a dark blue and grey plaid suit complete with a matching buttoned vest and white dress shirt and dark blue tie. A white fedora hat with a dark blue accent ribbon around it was on top of his head and pulled down slightly to hide his mischievous eyes. Jenaya was in a black pencil skirt that stopped mid-calf and a white short-sleeve blouse that went down over her hips with a black belt around the shirt to accent her waist, a black and white scarf around her neck and a black beret on her head. Both of them were holding two fake Thompson machine guns as well.

Roman shook his head as he stood up. "Between those three doing a gender switch and you two roughians whipping out the Bonnie and Clyde costumes. I swear I'm going to end up at Bellevue's Mental Hospital in New York. Jenaya, has Dean really been that bad of an influence on you that you've become Bonnie and Clyde?" He joked.

Jenaya smirked. "Well we were going to be Joker and Harley Quinn but we did that last year and we figured Bonnie and Clyde could do more damage with Tommy guns."

Roman chuckled a little more. "Okay y'all we need to get to that damn Party for Vince starts sending people for us; afterwards I need to talk with you all about Mackenzie once more. I made a trip out to Sacramento and spoke with Dain. I really need to tell you all what I found out, but we don't have time right now; so later we'll talk."

Everyone nodded in agreement that they would meet at the hotel after the party as they filed out of Roman's locker room and went down to catering where the Halloween party was already underway.

* * *

"Well-Well if it isn't little miss back from the dead."

Mackenzie recognized that snarky tone anywhere as she turned and her deep sea blue eyes watched as Charisma was walking over to her. She could already see the unshed tears in Charisma's eyes as she smiled softly and handed her a napkin.

"Char…I…I'm so sorry." Mackenzie whimpered out. She barely got to finish her sentence before Charisma jerked her into her arms and hugged her so tightly; Mackenzie was sure Charisma was going to squeeze her until her ribs broke through her lungs and out of her chest. "Char…Charisma, babe I need to breathe." She patted her friend on the back softly.

Charisma took a deep breath as she stepped back. "Roman told us you were alive. I know he explained everything, but I know with his temper he wasn't getting the full explanation, but I don't give a shit what the excuse is. I'm just glad you're alive. My daughter can have her God mother back."

"Wait, what?"

"You have an almost 3 year old God Daughter named Kenia. Your picture was tapped to her crib from the second Jimmy and I brought her home. Everyone was really good about telling her stories about you…even Roman." Charisma explained with a watery smile. "I don't know how to explain how you came alive…maybe I'll tell her you were living overseas and then we can give her the real explanation when she's older to understand."

Mackenzie watched as Jimmy and Jey walked up and couldn't help as she started to laugh about as hard as she possibly could. To see them in matching Fook Yu and Fook Mi outfits was just about the BEST thing she'd seen in a long, LONG time. She literally couldn't stop the giggles as they held hands and skipped in a circle around Mackenzie and Charisma.

When they finally stopped; Mackenzie pushed up on her toes and kissed Jimmy's cheek before hugging him and doing the same to Jey. "You two never cease to amaze me; though I don't remember the twins on Austin Powers having furry faces." She reached up and pulled on both of their goatees at the same time.

Jey laughed. "Yea well Austin Powers ain't got nothin' on us. We are far better looking than the twins in the movie. Mike Myers should've picked us."

Mackenzie's eyes turned towards Jey's other twin half. "And you…I understand I should be calling you daddy now." She addressed Jimmy.

Jimmy smiled widely. "Just call me big poppa."

Charisma shook her head. "Fool you did NOT just say that."

Mackenzie laughed; not missing the eye roll from Charisma. "The more things change the more they stay the same."

"They never change…they just stay the same." Charisma said in a snarky tone.

"Hey, listen we know how hard headed Uce can be, but I don't believe for a second you guys can't mend shit." Jimmy stated honestly.

Jey nodded as he hugged Mackenzie once more. "You just have to remember how stubborn his Samoan ass really is."

"If it happens-it happens. You guys know no one can force Roman to do anything but Roman." Mackenzie reasoned with the twins.

She literally missed him with every beat of her heart, but after his parts words the last time they saw each other; she wasn't really sure what was to come of them.

And she wasn't holding her breath for anything.

* * *

Roman's brown eyes zeroed in on his twin cousins as soon as they started skipping around in a circle and acting foolish. He chuckled deeply at their silliness. All laughs stopped when they parted and he saw Mackenzie standing there in a long curve hugging black dress. She had straightened her hair for the costume obviously, but it was her. He'd notice those deep sea blue eyes anywhere.

He knew he needed to talk to her and give her more than an apology for accusing her of lying and Jesus Christ for calling her a selfish bitch. He knew that comment was going to come back and bite him on the ass.

And it did.

Roman licked his top lip as his bottom lip rolled under his tongue and wet it as well before he sighed heavily and decided he needed to talk to her. His feet started moving as he walked across the floor in catering and around the catering tables and up to the twins, Charisma and Mackenzie.

All laughing stopped.

Roman pushed his hands into his front pockets feeling every bit the asshole of the group right now. "Mackenzie, can we talk?" He asked.

Jey cleared his throat. "Ugh, is it safe for you two to be left alone?"

Roman threw a glare at his cousin who just held up his hands in defense; before his eyes went back to Mackenzie. "What do you say Kenzie?"

Mackenzie narrowed her eyes at Roman. So he was back to calling her by her nickname? She couldn't only imagine what made that change in his brain especially after the way shit was left between them last time they saw each other. "Sure, you lead the way I'll follow you." She was giving him an olive branch; though she wasn't sure it would help.

Mackenzie watched as Roman turned on his heels and walked out of catering and down the hallway. They walked into a room and Roman closed the door.

"How have you been Kenzie?" Roman's deep voice asked.

"Oh you know me, I'm fabulous; and yourself?" She asked in return.

"I'm ugh – I'm doing ok." Roman stated.

"Great, so can we skip the niceties and get down to what you wanted to talk to me about." Mackenzie insisted. She was already tired of the back and forth.

"I could probably come up with something better if I wasn't feeling like such an asshole right now." Roman admitted. "I fucked up Kenzie. I fucked up and I'm not really sure I can unsay the things I've said to you. But I would like a chance to make it up to you."

"So what in the last two weeks since the last time you saw me you suddenly started to believe what I said; why the change in heart Roman?" Mackenzie asked honestly.

Roman cleared his throat. "I've had some time to think about things. I know I wasn't so receptive when I first heard what you had to say. And I know I was a straight up asshole the second time I heard you out." Roman moved around the room. "When I lost you almost 3 years ago; I never expected to see you again. You have to admit for anyone it would've been a shock to the system to see their dead girlfriend pop up out of nowhere. And then I showed up to your apartment in Chicago and was snarky the whole time as you explained everything. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. None of it made sense and I couldn't understand it." Roman explained in a soft tone.

"If memory serves me correct you didn't believe me the second time either." Mackenzie stated as a matter of fact.

Roman shook his head negatively. "I was being a snarky prick and you were doing the same thing back to me which clearly was pissing me off and I said things I shouldn't have."

"What's the difference between the first two times and tonight?" Mackenzie asked.

"There is no difference. I just had a chance to think about it all."

It was Mackenzie's turn to shake her head. "No, you don't just change your mind in 2 weeks Roman. You've been stubborn and digging your heels in since the first time you showed up at my apartment. What's the difference?" She pushed a little more.

"It's been a couple of months since that first time. I've literally had a lot of time on my hands between visits to think about the things you said. I'm sorry for the things I said to you and the way I behaved. I should have believed you when you told me the first time. It shouldn't have taken more than one visit with you to get it through my thick skull." Roman was back pedaling and he already knew Mackenzie would be able to see right through it.

"You're right you should have believed me the first time. But I want to know what made you change your mind. I want to know Roman. What made you think I was lying for the last few months and suddenly two weeks after your second visit you'll believe anything that comes out of my mouth?" Mackenzie was pushing harder now.

Roman sighed heavily as he looked down at his sneakers before he slowly lifted his head and locked eyes with her. "I went to see Dain."

"So had you not gone and seen Dain you still wouldn't believe me." Mackenzie looked at the ground and then back up. "I fought for weeks to get out of the shell; Jeff Walker spent years shoving me into for you. I wanted to get past being scared of guys bigger than me because of you. I didn't want to be some weak little girl because you made me stronger in every way possible. And I loved you so much that I gave up my life with you to protect you and our friends from monsters that you couldn't have stopped on your own and yet it took you going to see my brother in law and him giving you the SAME story I did for you to FINALLY believe me."

"It wasn't like that…" Roman urged.

"It wasn't?" She countered as she watched him take a step towards her before she backed up and held up her hands to keep him from grabbing her physically.

"Mackenzie…"

She shook her head. "Fuck you Roman."

* * *

She turned and left the locker room and made her way back down the hallway to catering. She looked over and saw Robert standing with a few of the other wrestlers as she nodded her head towards the exit letting him know she was ready to go. He'd told her before they even got there to give him a sign when she was done.

She turned to walk out the door for catering to meet Robert at the back door when she stopped in her tracks. Jenaya and Dean were standing in front of her. "Jenaya…I'm sor…" Before she could get the words out Jenaya reared back and slapped her across the face.

"You're sorry? Do you have any idea what all of us went through when we thought you were dead? Do you have ANY fuckin clue you bitch?!" Jenaya growled out.

Dean wrapped his arm around her waist. "Whoa hell cat, calm down she is still one of your best friends." Dean had to remind her; they still hadn't gotten the full story from Roman and now she had struck her friend.

Mackenzie rubbed her already swelling cheek as her eyes danced between Jenaya and Dean. "I'm sorry. I know it's not enough and I hope eventually you will let me explain. Or don't – Roman seems to have all the answers now so if you've got questions you can ask him."

Mackenzie stepped around Jenaya and Dean as the tears finally slipped past her eyelids and down her cheeks as she walked out the back door of the arena into the parking garage. Robert hit the button to unlock the rental. Things were quiet as they made their way back to the hotel.

Robert looked at Mackenzie. "Are you ok?"

"No." Mackenzie answered as she continued to look out the window of the rental as tears slid down. "Eventually I'll stop crying my heart out."


	8. Ch 8 Truths Revealed

**Chapter 8** – Truths Revealed

It was time. It was finally time.

Roman had decided it was time. It was time to tell the other's what he had learned after his visit with Dain. Then he had to figure out how he really felt about Kenzie.

Did he miss her?

Only every day that ended in y.

Did he think he could look past everything that happened or that she'd done to protect him in the last 2 1/2 years?

Absolutely.

Did he think they could get back to where they were before he thought he lost her?

Again...Yes.

But the big question on the tip of his tongue. The one he had not asked himself yet was still weighing heavily on his mind 24/7.

Did he still love her?

Yes he did. He still loved her eyes and hair and body and her soul. He still loved everything about her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

He longed to touch her body just one more time in the 2 1/2 years she'd been missing from his life.

And now that he found out she was still alive his fingers were itching to touch her naked flesh once more. He wanted to make love to her and re-claim her as his again; for the rest of his life.

He was starting to realize they really needed each other more than either we're willing to admit.

Roman sat in his house in Pensacola, Florida and was looking around. There were a couple of pictures of him and Mackenzie and the memories from those were flooding his brain. Jesus Christ he missed her more and more every day. He was going to talk with everyone while they were on the road, but he had been so busy with media and interviews he didn't have a minute to actually speak with anyone.

It was the whole reason behind why he'd sent a text out to all of his friends and asked that they come to his home. He was going to get everything straight with everyone before they had to go back on the road. The first to arrive was Dean and Jenaya. Jenaya was sporting a beautiful onyx diamond in the shape of a heart with two smaller regular diamonds in the shape of hearts as well. The ring was gorgeous on her left ring finger and it was completely something that represented Dean and Jenaya's love.

Roman was happy for Dean and Jenaya. Dean was like a brother to him; they were the same age but only a few months apart. It was almost as if Dean was part of the entire Reigns/Uso family. Dean got along best with Roman and his twin cousins Jimmy and Jey. They enjoyed working out together and even working in the ring together; coming up with new moves and strategies for upcoming matches.

Once Jey, Jimmy and Charisma showed up he knew they all had two days off with a lot of explaining to do in a short period of time. He knew when he was planning this he had to have more than just his word to get through to Jenaya. He knew she was the most upset about the lies Mackenzie orchestrated to keep everyone safe. Dean was on the fence because he was not entirely sure who to side with; Roman his best friend and the man he thought of as a brother or the woman he was spending the rest of his life with.

All eyes watched as Roman began pacing again. It had a familiar feel to it. Jenaya narrowed her eyes at Roman as she crossed her right leg over her left at the knee. "Roman if you brought us here to give us another Mackenzie pep talk you can save it. I already got to confront the lying bitch and said my piece. I don't need to hear anymore bullshit excuses." She stated honestly.

"That's my hellcat." Dean boosted as he shook his head.

Roman's eyes landed on Jenaya."What do you mean you confronted her and said your piece?" He hadn't seen what went down during the Halloween party.

Jenaya scowled. "I gave her a piece of my mind. I told her exactly what everyone else should have said to her when they saw her rather than hugging and dancing around in a circle like a bunch of fools."

Roman pointed at Jenaya. "You may have made the biggest mistake of your entire life; depending on what kind of piece of mind you gave Mackenzie. What I'm about to tell all of you can't leave the house. I've already told my parents what was going on and that was not easy at all." Roman sighed heavily. "After both of my dickhead visits to Mackenzie I decided I needed to go to a different source."

"So that's why you flew out to Sacramento. You went to see Alice and Dain." Jey stated the obvious.

Roman nodded. "Yea, I knew if anyone could give me answers it was Dain. Once I found out he was part of the US Marshall's service it was only too obvious who I would get all the answers to every question I had. And boy did he give me answers; answers I didn't realize I wasn't ready to hear."

Jimmy frowned. "What do you mean you weren't ready to hear it? I thought Mackenzie told you everything every single time you went to see her. How could Dain have any different answers for you?"

It was Roman's turn to frown. "Because no matter what she said. I didn't believe her. I got it in my head that because she lied about being dead that she was lying about everything else."

Charisma pursed her lips together. "But you were wrong huh." She smacked her lips together when she really wanted to smack Roman a good one upside his big Samoan head.

Jenaya narrowed her eyes at the large Samoan. "What do you mean you were wrong? I don't understand."

Roman again sighed heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose, before he walked over and grabbed his tablet. "Dain allowed me to take these pictures to show all of you with the promise that once we are done I delete everything. I agreed of course." He pulled up the pictures of all the evidence that Dain had collected regarding the hitmen and Jeff Walker and anything else he had.

"Roman…what are you showing us?" Dean asked as he flipped through the pictures with Jenaya.

"So, Mackenzie kept saying she went into witness protection to protect me, my family and our friends; which would obviously be all of you here. She wasn't lying. Those mug shots belong to every hitman that was hired by Jeff Walker to murder any one of us. The Marshall Service stopped over 50 hitmen from killing whoever their target was; whether it was someone in this house or someone in my family. We were ALL targets of Jeff Walker's."

"Jesus Christ." Jenaya frowned as she covered her hand with her mouth. "Are you seriously telling me all of our lives were in danger and at any minute it could've gone from Mackenzie faking her death to any of us being really dead?"

Roman nodded. "Yes…but that's not even the worst part about all of this."

"As if hired hitmen wasn't bad enough Holy shit Roman, you're seriously standing there saying there is something worse than this?" Jimmy asked as he stood up and pointed to the tablet.

Dean was now even more concerned because the last 2 1/1 years everyone just lived their lives completely oblivious to what was going on around them and at any point Jenaya could've been taken from him by some psychotic hitman that Jeff fucking Walker hired because he had a grudge against anyone who had been friends or related to Mackenzie or Roman.

"So what's the worst part big man?" Dean inquired.

Roman sat down with his elbows on his knees as he tried to get his head wrapped around everything he'd been told while still trying to process it. "Well it would seem there is a dirty Marshall that Dain is secretly investigating. The Marshall as it were basically coerced Mackenzie into signing the contract to go into Witness Protection. Her wound was puking blood and she was anemic, the nurses shot her up with pain killers and that asshole wormed his way into pre-op and lied his ass off about Jeff heading to Sacramento to go after her sister, nieces and nephew only after telling her he attacked me and I was barely hanging on. He lied to her face was she was near death and it literally scared the shit out of her; she figured she only had one option so witness protection plus saving me, my family and our friends won."

Dean stood up. "What do you mean a dirty Marshall? You mean like some asshole who is working both fuckin sides?" Dean's temper was slowly skyrocketing.

Roman nodded. "Dain thinks he was being paid off by Jeff Walker to keep tabs on Mackenzie while she was being hidden in New Mexico. Her life was just as much in danger if not more because Jeff could've gotten to her at any point while she was in the program."

Dean scowled. "So how long have you known all of this?" He asked curiously.

"I found out before the Halloween party where Mackenzie showed up with her boss Robert, but I didn't have time to sit you guys all down and tell you what I learned until now. We've been going extra hard for TLC and we absolutely had no time for all of us to sit down together like this." Roman explained.

"Yea but bro, she's been trying to tell you this for months. Every time you went to see her she told you what was going on. You could've gone to see Dain at any time and you waited until after your second visit with her because you didn't believe her. So she's basically living alone in Chicago, cut off from all of her friends and friends she considers family because you won't get your head out of your ass." Dean growled out.

Roman glared at his best friend. "What do you want me to do about it Dean?" Roman stood up and stood toe to toe with him. "I felt betrayed and lied to by my girlfriend who I thought was dead for the last 2 ½ years."

Jenaya stood up as she pushed herself between Dean and Roman. "Okay you two enough with the growling back and forth. Dean I made the same mistake Roman did or don't you remember me slapping Mackenzie across the face when I saw her at the Halloween party?"

"You what?" Roman exclaimed.

"You know Roman you weren't the only one hurt to find out Mackenzie faked her own death and YES I may or may not have over reacted, but I can apologize for the way I behaved towards a woman I consider a sister because I am thrilled to know she's really not dead and she's not going to miss my upcoming wedding. I might have been a royal bitch but all I can do it hope she forgives me. I know some of the things you said to her…do you think she will forgive you for your mouth?" Jenaya asked honestly.

Roman planted his hands on his hips as he looked at Mackenzie's best friend. "I don't know." He answered honestly, because honestly he didn't know. He didn't know how she would address him the next time he saw her. She could tell him to go fuck himself and that would be the end of them ever talking again. She could call him everything in the book and he would go back for more because he deserved it. He actually deserved for her to kick his ass and if she wanted to do it he would let her over and over if it meant she was back in his life forever.

* * *

Mackenzie hadn't seen Roman and the others since Halloween but she was not above watching them on the WWE network. Jesus she was pathetic. She sat in Robert's office with her heels kicked off. The grey pencil skirt with the white crisp short sleeve dress shirt and the vest she had over it matched her skirt. Her raven corkscrew curls were piled high up on her head with a couple of tendrils hanging down.

She was looking over some legal documents as she got up and walked over to the windows. She heard someone walk into the office and could tell by the smell of the cologne that it was Robert. "So you've got a busy schedule tomorrow."

Robert chuckled. "When don't I have a busy schedule Kenzie?"

"Yes well if you don't leave now you'll never get home in time for dinner with Kathy and you'll be riding sofa city buddy." Mackenzie teased. "You need to get some sleep anyways. You've got court first thing at 7 AM so get some dinner, have a little wine and sex your beautiful wife up then get some good sleep." She giggled softly.

Robert walked over and squeezed her shoulder. "You know eventually living in Chicago will get easier. I know it doesn't seem like it now because you miss your friends, but you can always go see your family in Sacramento, you know you are allowed vacation time." He pointed out. He knew the transition from Witness Protection back to real life was not going to be easy on her and it was even harder since she wasn't able to keep the connection to her friends, because she didn't want them to have to chose between her and Roman. They'd technically known him longer since they all worked together first before she'd started working in the legal department at WWE.

Mackenzie nodded. "I know. I just feel like the last 2 ½ years were nothing but a vacation." Technically she'd been out of the Wit Sec program for almost 6 months now. She still didn't feel like she was at home, even when she was sitting in her own living room. It was just after the new year and the beginning of January and cold as hell outside. She would go into the office early and stay later than anyone else; rather than go home to her empty apartment. She needed to get a cat or dog; hell maybe even an iguana…Something that could keep her company at night.

It was about 7 PM, when Robert said his goodbyes as he wrapped himself in his scarf and coat and left for the condo. Mackenzie sat on the couch in the office as she turned on the youtube channel for WWE and got caught up on the Monday Night Raw's, Tuesday Night Smackdown's and the PPV's she'd missed.

About an hour later Mackenzie closed the laptop as she stood and threw the garbage away from the take-out food she'd ordered after Robert left. She walked into the bathroom and used the facilities and then washed her hands afterwards. She walked back into the office and looked out the window again. They weren't calling for snow but it was damn cold and she knew the longer she waited to go home the colder it would be. She heard the office door open again and figured the janitorial service was there to finish clean the office like they did every night. "Don't worry you don't have to kick me out; I was just leaving."

Mackenzie turned around and saw Roman standing there.

"Roman…"

"Kenzie…"


	9. Ch 9 Maybe

**Chapter 9** \- Maybe

"What are you doing here Roman?" Mackenzie asked as she padded barefoot across the plush carpet of Robert's office as she was putting up the law books he'd gotten out of the shelves behind his desk. "The law office is closed this late at night and everything should be locked up tighter then a drum." She pointed out.

Roman stood there with a black hoodie under a black leather jacket, jeans, sneakers and a white t-shirt, his hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of his neck. He hadn't seen her in weeks and she was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on. "I uh – I don't know."

Mackenzie turned around as her deep blue eyes looked at the man she could not quite stop loving. "Oh sure you do. You don't make a separate trip to Chicago in January because it's all nice and sunny here. This is probably the worst time to do a vacation in this city and you've always got an answer for questions. So try again."

Yup he deserved that snarky response.

Roman sighed heavily. "I needed to come and talk to you." He moved around the office as he watched her continue to put books away as if he weren't standing there.

"What could you possible need to talk to me about?" Mackenzie asked. "I'm pretty sure the last three times I've seen you; you said everything that needed to be said…and then some."

"Look, I know the last couple of times I came to see you my temper was out of control and I'm sorry about that. It's not like I can just snap my fingers and accept everything that was said between us. You know my stubborn side tends to over step my rational side. And yes I know I was an asshole to you the second time I showed up at your apartment unannounced, but I'm trying Kenzie. I swear I'm trying." Roman stated. He knew groveling was definitely going to help but first he wanted to try and reason with her; even though he could already tell her snarky side was waging a war with her sweet side.

"You're trying?" She asked more than stated. "You came to MY apartment and asked me to explain it…TWICE. I did exactly what you asked me to do and then what did you do? You called me a selfish bitch than you go see Dain and get the 'real' story – like I ever lied to you about what happened and suddenly everything is just supposed to be hunky dory between us and I'm just supposed to forget the hateful words you spewed out of your mouth?"

"Do I have to beg?" Roman asked. "Because I'm damn good at begging."

Mackenzie scoffed. "I wouldn't know you never begged me for anything."

Roman sighed heavily once more as he shed his leather jackets and hoodie as he sat down in a chair. "So let me ask you a serious question; what did you see in me Kenzie? I mean there had to be something you saw in me to be interested enough in me to let me get close to you and then…well you know what happened after that."

"You had a nice behind."

She shrugged as she began putting the files back together and filing them in the cabinet next to the shelves.

Roman couldn't stop the smirk from graving his lips. Now she was being cheeky. This was shades of the playful Mackenzie from when they started dating. She had the best playful side of any woman he had ever dated and it had made him love her more. "What do you mean had? Did I suddenly lose it?" Roman stood up as he looked over his shoulder. If she could be playful so could he.

It was a definite step in the right direction.

Mackenzie's perfectly shaped right eyebrow raised. "I haven't really seen it in 2 ½ years so I couldn't tell you." That was an honest answer.

Roman turned around so she could see his jean covered backside. "Well?" He looked over his shoulder again. "Did I lose it?"

Mackenzie shrugged once more. "Nah, it's still nice."

Roman cleared his throat as he turned back around so he could face her. He walked over and leaned against the front of the desk. His dark brown eyes drank in the curves of her body as he watched her grab another book and stood on her tip toes to push it into place. "It's nice to know you still have that hour glass figure that I couldn't get enough of." His eyes zeroed in on her shapely ass and those long legs sticking out of the end of her skirt. Naturally she would have to be barefoot.

Mackenzie could feel Roman's eyes burning a path down her body. It was nice to feel desired again. It had been so long since she felt the touch of a man she was pretty sure she didn't even know how to be intimate anymore. Deep blue eyes blinked as she turned around not expecting Roman to be closer to her with only Robert's desk separating them. "I couldn't do much in New Mexico except work and go to the gym so that's what I did with my days for 2 ½ years."

Roman stood up straight as he crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to watch her clean up the desk. He didn't think one desk could be so cluttered but he guessed a lawyer's desk could really pack on the crap. "So are you seeing anyone right now?"

"Maybe."

That answer alone got Roman's insides riled up. "Did you date while you were in New Mexico?"

"Maybe."

Mackenzie watched as Roman's eyebrows dropped to the bridge of his nose; he was getting annoyed with her maybe answers and wanted the truth, but she knew how to tease him.

"Are you going to give me a straight answer?" Roman asked.

Mackenzie turned around and crossed her arms over her chest mimicking Roman's posture. "I don't know if that is any of your business Roman. I wasn't with you, so why would you need to know? I mean I'm not standing here asking you about your bachelor status now am I." She stated pointedly.

"I'm just asking questions here." Roman said in an annoyed tone.

"Well I'm not standing here asking you how many times you dipped your wick so why are you asking me. Besides what guarantee do I have that you won't go running to Dain and ask him for the 'real' answer?" She jabbed,

Roman scrubbed a hand down his face. He knew eventually she was going to bring up the fact that he went to Dain. It was the stupidest move he'd made so far in his life and now it was going to come back to bite him on the ass when it was time to get his girl back. Roman put both of his hands on the desk as he leaned over so they could be eye to eye across the desk. "Look, I know I screwed up by going to Dain and I could make a thousand excuses as to why I went but I only went because I needed a piece of mind. I needed to know why and how and what led to you doing what you did without me and without our friends. I just needed to hear it from a different perspective. I didn't think you were lying to me. I didn't know what to think. I was lost and angry and confused."

"So why all the dating questions all of a sudden?" Kenzie asked curiously.

"So I know whose God damn head I have to knock off, if I ever run into them in New Mexico." Roman growled.

Mackenzie jumped slightly at the growl that emanated in Roman's chest. There he was. Her big protector he was finally coming back into the light. She loved it when he went all caveman on her. She couldn't help the soft giggle that escaped her lips as she put a hand over her mouth. She had been waiting to see this version of Roman. His dominant side was starting to show and she loved it when it came out to play.

Roman's ears perked up when he heard the giggle. His tongue came out and licked his top lip as his bottom lip rolled under his tongue wetting it as well. His dark brown eyes locked with her deep blue. "Are you screwing with me?" He asked in his Dom voice.

Mackenzie inhaled as she closed her eyes and opened them as she slowly exhaled. There was always something about his Dominant voice that just woke up her body and did wonderful things to her. She felt her panties dampen instantly.

She folded her arms over her chest once more and kicked her hip to the side.

"Maybe."

She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips together almost daring him to do something about it in her bosses office.

Roman growled slightly. "Am I only going to get maybe's out of you tonight?"

"Maybe."

Roman's dark eyes narrowed at the beauty across the desk from him. "Is maybe the only word you know right now?"

"Maybe."

"You're really not going to make this easy for me are you?" Roman asked.

"Maybe…Maybe not - but why should I?" She asked honestly.

"Because we both know how much we miss each other; how much we need each other right now." Roman would plead his case until the very end.

Mackenzie knew he had a point but she wasn't sure she was ready to admit any of that to him. She saw another law book sitting on the floor next to the desk as she leaned over and grabbed it before turning to the booked case.

"Maybe."

Roman watched as she yet again stood on her tip toes as she struggled to push the book into its rightful place on the shelf. He couldn't imagine there were so many books on the law in Chicago let alone the state of Illinois. Again with the maybe; he'd had just about enough of that word. He walked around the end of the desk and stepped up behind her; he stretched above her head and helped her push the book in place.

Mackenzie sunk back down to the flat of her bare feet as she turned and was face to chest with Roman. She felt Roman's hands go out as his long fingers wrapped around her shoulders. She could feel her insides jittering from standing so close to Roman once again. If only she could just be honest and tell him how much she missed him.

Roman's dark brown eyes sought out her blues when he noticed she wasn't looking up at him. "My eyes are up here beautiful." He stated low in his Dom voice.

Mackenzie shook her head negatively. "Please don't Roman."

Roman frowned. "Don't what babygirl?"

God it had felt like forever since he'd called her that. "I – I can't do this Roman. I can't do this again. I can't get attached to you and have you in my life and lose you again. What if you decide you really can't be with me, because of what I did? What if you are completely disgusted with me? What if you don't love me the way you used to?"

"Mackenzie what gave you the idea that I ever stopped loving you?" Roman asked. "Again I was lost, angry and confused, but I never stopped caring about you, missing you, loving you or needing you in my life." He stated honestly.

Mackenzie's head slowly lifted as her deep sea blue eyes found Roman's dark brown as they locked together. "Are you sure? I mean are you really sure?" She asked full of hope. Her hands slowly came up but stopped short of actually touching him. She wanted to touch his face and arms and chest and lips.

Roman's hand came up as he gently pushed his fingertips through her thick corkscrew curly hair. Jesus he missed her. "About as sure as I can be since the first day I laid eyes on you." His hands came up and cupped her cheeks as he watched her eyes glistening with fresh tears. This was harder on both of them then he thought it would be. They literally hadn't touched in almost 3 years. If it felt THIS good to be touching each other with clothes on after almost 3 years he couldn't imagine how great being completely naked with her again would feel.

Mackenzie felt like if she touched him the bubble would burst and he would disappear or she would wake up and he wouldn't have really been there; like it was all suddenly some kind of bad dream or nightmare. To be INCHES from the man you've loved but not be able to lay hands on him. It was why she hadn't touched him yet. If she closed her eyes and opened them and he was gone it was going to break her heart; it would literally kill her to think this was all just one giant dream.

"Touch me Kenzie." Roman requested. He watched as she shook her head negatively. "Just touch me once babygirl; I need to feel you." He requested and was NOT above begging her at this point. Roman's head dropped as he noticed her eyes were closed. His mouth moved to the shell of her ear. "Do you hear me Mackenzie?" He questioned and watched as she nodded. "This isn't a dream. I'm not playing with you anymore. I need you to touch me. At this point I don't even care if you slap me but I need you to touch me."

Again she shook her head negatively.

"Have I ever lied to you or hurt you?" Roman asked.

"No." Mackenzie whimpered out.

"Then I'm not asking anymore. I'm not requesting. I'm telling you to touch me."

Roman's dom voice rang through Mackenzie's ears; she could feel her heartbeat picking up. She exhaled a shaky breath as she let her fingertips start at the hem of Roman's white v-neck t-shirt. The cotton was so soft.

"Keep going babygirl."

Her eyes stayed closed as she slowly moved her fingers up the t-shirt as it was molded to Roman's stomach, abs and chest. It was almost as if the t-shirt was a second skin on him. She could feel his chest rising up and down as he breathed deeply. Her right hand made it to the center of his chest as his hand went over hers and stopped it from moving. She could feel his heart beating; through his chest – through the shirt against the palm of her hand.

Roman could see the silent tears as they were escaping her closed eyes. He finally let go of her hand as her hands moved up further and cupped his face. The stubble on his cheeks that grew that day tickling her fingertips. "Open your eyes and look at me Kenzie." Again his dom voice was in control.

Deep sea blue eyes opened as they locked with dark brown. "Roman…" She whimpered once more.

Roman couldn't even stop himself as he leaned down and buried his face in the crook of her neck as he wrapped his arms all the way around her body. The love of his life was back in his arms; back where she needed to be – back where she always belonged.

Mackenzie's small hands gripped two handfuls of Roman's t-shirt as he stood up straight lifting her off the floor but keeping her wrapped in his arms as the flood gates opened. "I'm so sorry Roman. I missed you so much."

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as her hands grabbed onto him for dear life.

Maybe now they could start the healing process…Maybe.


	10. Ch 10 Night Time Visit

**Chapter 10** \- Night Time Visit

Deep sea blue eyes stared at the file in front of her. Mackenzie had been making side notes for Robert's next big case at the end of the week. Ever since she and Roman had made it to solid ground, he had been texting her non-stop. He naturally had to go back on the road for work, but it didn't stop him from communicating with her. She was getting text messages from him while he was at signings and phone calls when he wasn't in the ring or in front of fans. She loved hearing the sound of his voice over the phone. She could literally close her eyes and listen to him talk about complete nonsense for hours on end.

She looked at her phone again for the 100th time and nothing. She hadn't heard from Roman in a couple of hours, and it was Wednesday; his normal days off were Wednesdays and Thursdays. She was assuming he had some media to cover or a fan signing of some sort.

Then again it was 7 PM; most of the signings were not at night unless they were during WrestleMania week and weekend. And this was definitely not WrestleMania season.

All she could do was hope everything was okay and that she would hear from him soon or tomorrow. They had logged a hundred hours or more talking on the phone and texting back and forth since the week prior when he'd found her at her boss's office. He still hadn't told her how he knew that was where she was going to be instead of her apartment. Roman always did know things about her without her saying a word.

Mackenzie's phone buzzed a couple of times as she picked it up and saw Roman was texting her.

 _ **What's up beautiful?**_

She couldn't stop the smile; as her thumbs moved across the keyboard.

 _ **Nothing handsome; just working as always, what are you up too?**_

Her phone buzzed again.

 _ **Looking at a beautiful woman who looks like she needs to be kissed really badly.**_

Deep sea blue eyes looked up and saw Roman standing in the door way of Robert's office again. For the second week in a row. Her phone was forgotten as she put it down and smiled. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be home enjoying your days off?" Mackenzie asked honestly.

Roman shook his head as he discarded his leather jacket and hooded sweatshirt again like last time as he made his way into the office. "No, I figured if I'm going to get us back to where we once were I needed to come to you on my days off since you aren't traveling with the company anymore."

Mackenzie watched as he walked closer to her as she stayed sat at the desk. The black v-neck t-shirt with some kind of silver design splashed on the front was beautiful against his olive skin. His jeans were a totally different element; tight in all the right places with his black and white sneakers. His hair was also pulled back into a nice tight bun at the nape of his neck. He looked good enough to eat…and then some.

Roman stopped when he was in front of the desk as he crooked his index finger at her and watched as she smiled softly before she stood up and walked around the desk and stopped in front of Roman. He watched as her bottom lip got caught between her teeth and he was suddenly brought back to the first time he'd seen her in the WWE board room, sitting next to Stephanie looking innocent.

Roman couldn't stop the crotch of his jeans from getting tighter. Just the fact that she still chewed on her bottom lip when she was nervous was enough to make him cum in his pants like a 12 year old boy. His hands were at her waist but they were both itching to remove clothes, but he would keep some kind of control over himself; no matter what. It had been way too long for either of them.

Roman looked down as her left hand slid up his t-shirt covered chest, before sliding it further up to cup his cheek lovingly. Her thumb ran across his bottom lip; feeling the softness of the pad of her thumb was completely unnerving.

Again control.

Roman finally leaned down and caught her lips with his. His body tingled when their tongues brushed against each other; each moaning out of pure enjoyment at the taste of the other.

Mackenzie breathing picked up as she felt Roman's big hands begin to roam her body but landed on her jean covered backside; squeezing gently one cheek in each hand.

They pulled away from each other when they needed oxygen. Roman twirled his finger around and watched as Mackenzie caught the clue and turned around with her back to him. His hands found her hips once more as he pulled her back against his chest. Roman couldn't help but groan as her jean covered ass rubbed against his jean covered erection.

Mackenzie smirked at his reaction. She knew what was coming but she also knew Roman wanted to play a little first. She would have no issues with either. She felt his hands slide around to the front of her body as he unbuttoned her jeans and unzipped them before he slowly started to tug them down her legs. He squatted down behind her as he finished getting her jeans off.

"Arms up beautiful."

Mackenzie shivered slightly at the sound of Roman's dom voice, but the arms went up as always after his request. She felt him discard her shirt and then bra. She watched as Roman reached around her and pushed everything to one side of the desk. Before he pushed Mackenzie over and bent her over the desk.

"Stay." Roman hissed in her ear.

"Yes Sir." Mackenzie stated softly as she propped her head up on her hand and watched him walk around and shoved everything off the side of the desk leaving it bare; at least he picked her laptop up and placed it someplace it wouldn't get touched or broken. "I hope you know you're going to help me pick that up later."

Deep sea blue eyes took in the flesh when Roman pulled his t-shirt over his head. The man still had an amazing body. Her eyes widened slightly as Roman undid his black leather belt and pulled it from his jean loops as he made his way back around the desk letting his hand slide along the soft flesh of her round ass.

"Hands behind your back, beautiful." Roman requested and watched as she did as she was told. He wrapped the belt around each of her wrists before pushing the end through the belt buckle and tightening it. His hands slowly inspected the bare flesh he could get to while she was bent over the front of the desk. His right hand slid down her spine to her ass again before his hand dipped lower and could feel the wetness her body was producing because of him. Roman couldn't help the groan. "Is that all for me babygirl?" He asked.

Mackenzie swallowed hard as she felt him touching her most intimate parts again after 2 ½ years. "Yes…" She whimpered. She felt his fingers delve deeper into her core as she sucked in a breath. "Roman…" She moaned.

Roman kept a hold of the belt that was wrapped around her wrists in his left hand as his right continued to explorer and feel. His erection was pressed against the zipper of his jeans as he continued to move his fingers in and out of her core. She was absolutely dripping for him and only him and that did something to his body. "Let's get those thighs apart beautiful." Roman moved around behind her as he knelt down behind her and watched as she did as she was told.

Roman leaned forward as he kissed her right cheek and then her left; all the while his fingers of his right hand were still working her body into a frenzy. Her moans and mewls were music to his ears as he moved closer and let his tongue slide from the top of her slit down and then from the bottom up.

"Roman…"

Roman groan at the flavor she left on the tip of his tongue. It was that familiar flavor that was all her own. She was nice and smooth from her latest waxing but the flavor was all her. It was almost as if he craved to taste her, it was mouth watering and made him want more. Roman's tongue pushed into her core again as he groaned once more. "Oh God Kenzie, you still taste good babygirl."

Mackenzie could FEEL the stubble on his cheeks rubbing against the insides of her thighs but that tongue of his. The tongue he always knew exactly what to do with it. "Oh God, Roman." She was extremely exposed as she was naked and bent over her boss's desk, but she had no complaints.

She was however, glad that there was no one in the building and that the shades in the office had been closed otherwise anyone in the building across the street would be able to see everything they were doing. She might submit to him where ever and whenever he wanted but she was NOT into voyeurism. She was not giving anyone else a show.

Mackenzie's fingers were starting to tingle a little and she knew the belt was starting to effect her circulation, but there was no pain; so again no complaints. Her fingers were flexing and trying to find his hand that had a hold of the belt; she needed to touch him but she knew this was more of a punishment for missing from his life for 2 ½ years. Even though feeling his tongue deep in her lady parts did not feel like a punishment at all.

"Roman…I need you…"

That whimper did things to Roman's body. He couldn't keep his dick from twitching and wanting to jump from his pants to inside her body. He backed up slightly as he licked his lips and fingers clean before he stood up and discarded his jeans and boxer briefs. "Are you ready to re-submit to me and let me re-claim you again baby girl?" He asked.

That dom voice of Roman's would get him anything from her. "Yes sir."

"Yes sir what?" Roman asked as he stood behind her letting the tip of his erection tease her.

"Yes sir, claim me." Mackenzie had another request but she would wait until the time was right before she voiced it.

"Good girl." Roman steadied himself as he slowly started pushing past her slick folds into her body once he bottomed out he stood still; letting her get acclimated to him once more. The feeling was almost more than either of them could handle. He could hear Mackenzie's breathing pick up as well as his own. It had been so long since he felt the since of her body it just felt familiar. It felt like home. He had to make himself a promise though here and now that he would never lose her again.

She was the one.

The one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

The one he wanted to start a family with.

The one he never wanted to be without ever again.

Roman's right hand wrapped around her right hip, but he kept a firm grip on the belt with his left as he began rocking in and out of her body. He hadn't felt this good in so long. Being buried in a woman's body was a good feelings, but being buried in Mackenzie's body was a feeling he NEVER wanted to stop feeling.

He had tried dating other women but it just never worked out in his favor. They couldn't handle the way he was and truth be told – none of them were her…none of them were Mackenzie.

Mackenzie closed her eyes as she felt Roman moving in and out of her body agonizingly slow. Her fingers were a little number and the black leather belt was starting to bite into the skin around her wrists, but she wouldn't complain the way he was making her feel she hadn't felt in so long. When she was in New Mexico she couldn't even think of dating anyone. The only man she ever had on her mind was Roman. His grip on her right hip tightened as he began to pick up his pace and started to power in and out of her.

Roman knew her tightness around him was because she hadn't had sex while they were apart. He also knew since he had been handling business on his own since she'd been gone that being buried balls deep inside of her tight little body wouldn't have him lasting nearly as long as he wanted, but he also wanted her to enjoy this and right about now being bent over a hard desk where the top of the desk was digging into her thighs every time he thrust into her was probably not the ideal way for her to get off with him.

Roman reluctantly pulled out of Mackenzie's willing body. "Stand up beautiful." He watched as she did as she was told. "How about something a little more comfortable for the both of us?" He suggested as he led her over to the couch that was in the room. He sat down and patted his thighs. "C'mon babygirl, come work that beautiful pussy on my dick."

Mackenzie carefully climbed onto the couch as she threw her leg over Roman's pelvis. He kept the belt still in his left hand but helped her get situated on his lap before she slowly sank down onto him and began gliding herself up and down his length. She sighed in contentment when Roman captured her right nipple into his hot mouth before he kissed across her chest and did the same to her left nipple.

Roman very much enjoyed watching her stomach muscles contract as she moved her torso and hips to give them both the same pleasure. He could tell she wanted something she was back to biting her lip; he could read her like an open book. "What is it babygirl? Tell me what you want." He requested. He knew what she wanted before it even left her lips.

"I want to touch you."

Roman's other hand went behind her as he carefully worked the belt off her wrists, she didn't skip a beat as she gripped his shoulders and threw her head back as he grabbed the fleshy globes of her luscious ass and was helping her work the lower half of her body so they both could come to the same conclusion together. He felt her hands move up as they pulled the elastic band from his hair. She always did love his hair down when they were naked.

"Oh God Roman, I need you to promise me something." Mackenzie cupped his face as she reined kisses all over his face before she caught his lips.

"Name it babygirl…Anything you want you can have." Roman would give her the world if she wanted it. "Jesus Christ…" He could tell they were both close.

"Just you Roman; I just want you. I can't lose you again. I don't care if some idiot stalker comes out of the wood work I won't run and I'll trust you to protect me as long as it's just us. I missed you so much baby. Just promise me I'm not going to lose you tomorrow…Promise me that and I'll give YOU anything you want." This was her second request and she knew there was no better time to voice it then right now. She couldn't wake up tomorrow and have Roman gone because he was getting back at her for walking away 2 ½ years ago.

Roman knew in some way she still had insecurities, but he proved to her once he wouldn't let her down…why would he start now?

"Babygirl I go nowhere without you in my life. I swear on my life." He stated through gritted teeth. "Are you going to cum for me Kenzie?" He asked in his dom voice.

It sent shivers through her body as she nodded. She couldn't get another word out as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and his arms went around her holding her closer to his body as they both came apart at the seams.

Once their breathing was finally back to normal, Roman brushed a few sweaty curls out of her face as he kissed her lips softly. "As long as you keep your promise babygirl, I'll definitely be keeping mine. Those 2½ years without you; is not something I ever want to go through again."

She nodded in agreement. "Me too." She kissed his lips as she smiled softly. "God we have to get dressed and get out of here. The janitorial staff will be here in an hour and I'm definitely not paid enough to give them a free show."

Roman helped her stand up as they began pulling on clothing, once he was fully clothed again he walked over and was helping her pick up the all the stuff he had shoved onto the floor. He then followed her home where they were going to start talking about their future together because there was no perfect time to discuss it now that they'd both decided they were each other's future.


	11. Ch 11 Making Up

**Chapter 11** – Making Up

It felt like it took forever to get from Mackenzie's work office to her apartment in the Chicago traffic. Roman would've thought that everyone would be sleeping, but like every big city he ever visited he was wrong. They were almost as busy as New York – the city that never sleeps. When Mackenzie pulled into her apartments parking garage she signally for Roman to follow her in his rental. Once she parked she got out and pointed to the empty spot next to hers marked 'guest'. Each apartment was equipped with two renter's parking spaces and four guest parking spots.

Mackenzie watched as Roman pulled in and killed the engine before he exited the vehicle. "Don't forget your bag."

Roman's dark eyebrow rose. "You're going to let me stay with you tonight?' He asked almost astonished. They had quite a bit they needed to discuss but after the way he'd behaved the last time he was in her apartment he was sure she would tell him to get a room somewhere else until they'd worked everything out.

"I can be persuaded." Mackenzie smiled softly. She watched as he stepped to the rear of the rental and popped the hatch before retrieving his duffle bag that had spare clothes plus his toiletries kit. She knew the way he packed and knew his duffle would have everything it needed. "If you want to bring your suitcase with you, we can also do laundry since I know you're not going to make it home to get fresh clothes for when you go back on the road."

Roman shook his head. "I'm not going to worry about it tonight. I've got what I need for now." He motioned to his duffle. "Lead the way beautiful."

Mackenzie led him over to the door and unlocked it allowing him to go through it first but he held it open and waited for her to follow; he watched as her jean covered backside made its way down the hallway to her apartment door.

Roman walked into the apartment and suddenly it felt different. He felt invited and welcome. It felt familiar again. He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he watched her get rid of her coat, purse and keys. "I'm gonna go put my bag down. Any room in particular I should place it?" Of course he was asking; he really wanted to make sure his signals were not getting crossed with hers.

"My room is at the end of the hallway." Mackenzie smirked. "As long as you're staying."

"As long as I'm staying." Roman disappeared down the hallway as he found her bedroom and placed his bag on the bench at the foot of her bed. It looked comfortable and he couldn't wait to hold Mackenzie in it – all night long. It had technically been 3 years since he'd held her; with the exception of the romp they'd just had in her boss's office, which wasn't as romantic as he'd hoped, but got the job done. He wanted to make slow passionate love to her in a soft warm bed and if he had his way and things worked out the way they were supposed to; that is exactly how they would be ending the night.

Roman walked back into the living room and found Mackenzie sitting on the couch. She'd licked off her shoes and was sitting on her knees with her feet under her as he walked over and joined her.

"I kicked the heat up so it should get warmer in here soon." Kenzie stated as she rubbed her hands up and down her jean covered thighs. After a comfortable silence she smiled and reached for Roman's hand. "What now?" She asked.

Roman's dark eyes looked down as her small hands encased one of his big hands – again it felt familiar. When they were together before they couldn't keep their hands off each other. "Now we talk about what we are going to do. I know it's probably too soon to tell you I want to marry you, but I'm going to say it anyway."

He took a deep breath as he looked up into those deep sea blue eyes he could never get enough of. "Mackenzie, I want you to be my wife. If I had the ring right now I would be asking you to marry me. I want you to be the mother of our children. It's the only thing I wanted since you came into my life; since I watched you walk into that board room next to Stephanie. I've never wanted anyone in my life as much as I want you. I know we've been apart for unforeseeable reasons, but it's been almost 3 years and I never stopped loving you."

Mackenzie could feel the tears stinging her eyes at his honest words. "You're serious aren't you? You really mean it." She watched as he nodded. "I'll make you another deal."

Roman chuckled. "Wow two deals in one night?" He sighed as he pulled her a little closer. "Okay hit me."

"Whenever you get that ring and you ask me – I'll say yes." Mackenzie couldn't stop the tears from sliding down her cheeks.

Roman frowned. "Sweetheart, why are you crying?" He asked concerned.

"Because you make me happy, because you are the only thing I ever wanted since I met you. Because I knew when I met you; you were going to be the most important person in my life. Because we missed so much time over the last almost 3 years and I feel like we are never going to get that time back and I want nothing more than to make up for every second, minute, hour, day, week, month and year we were apart." Mackenzie stated as she felt Roman's arm tighten around her as she looked down at their joined hands. "I want to get back to where we were before all the insanity happened."

Roman knew all the opening up was going to be a necessary evil for them. His hand released hers as he reached up and his index finger traced her jaw line before it slipped under her chin as he lifted her head so her eyes would meet his. "We will get back to where we were; it will take a bit but well get there." He leaned down and kissed her lips softly. Roman pulled back before he gently lifted Mackenzie off the couch and placed her on his lap; he could feel her hands caressing him. "Can I make a request?" He asked.

Mackenzie smiled softly as she nodded. "Sure."

"I want you back on the road with me. Out of everything I want and need in my life, having you on the road was always the one thing that kept me sane. I already spoke to Vince and he said as long as you're okay with it and as long as Robert is okay with it; you'd be doing the same thing as before." Roman had been smart enough to discuss it with Vince beforehand. He'd learned Vince had known about Mackenzie going into witness protection; thanks to Dain.

"Hmmm traveling again; I did enjoy it last time." Mackenzie smiled down at Roman as she continued to caress Roman's face. Their eyes locking; something they could do forever just sit and stare at each other.

* * *

~Friday~

Mackenzie paced back and forth. Her deep sea blue eyes were staring at the carpeting the covered the floor. Roman watched as she paced back and forth. "Babygirl, what is going on in that beautiful mind of yours?" He asked as he watched her head snap up.

"I don't know what to – to say to Jenaya. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms the last time we saw each other. I really don't want someone I consider a sister to hate me." Mackenzie confessed as she continued to pace again.

Roman stood from the end of the king size bed and stepped into Mackenzie's path and stopped her with his hands on her hips. His forehead lowered to hers as she stared at his t-shirt covered chest. Her hands came up and rested on his chest. Roman leaned down a little more and kissed her forehead. "You are worrying over nothing Kenzie. Jenaya didn't know or realize why you did what you did; she just assumed you did it to hurt all of us. I already explained to everyone what really happened and what went down with you."

"I'm still scared." Mackenzie admitted.

Roman nodded. "It's okay to be scared ya know. But I don't really think you have anything to be scared about." He softly kissed her forehead once more before she pushed up on her toes and caught his lips with hers. Roman wrapped his arms around Mackenzie as her hands came up and cupped his cheeks. "Hmmm." He hummed against her lips. "What was that for?" He asked curiously.

Mackenzie pulled back and smiled softly as she tugged on his goatee. "Just because."

The knock on the hotel door pulled the newly reunited couple apart. "I'll get it." Roman volunteered.

Mackenzie watched as Roman walked out of the bedroom into the sitting room of the hotel and she could hear as Dean and Jenaya made their way into the hotel room. She couldn't help but chew her bottom lip. Her nerves were still standing on end.

"Bro how were your days off?" Dean asked as he and Roman slapped hands.

"Wasn't bad; I have a small surprise for Jenaya, but I can't have her destroy my hotel room when she finds out what it is." Roman joked.

"Oh yes Axel Rose at your service you Samoan meat head." Jenaya smarted off.

Dean couldn't help laughing as he shook his head.

"I was being serious. I have someone here who needs to speak to you and I seriously don't need you attempting murder." Roman stated as he looked at Jenaya.

"I think I can hold her back if she feels the need to Guns-N-Roses your hotel room bro." Dean wrapped his arm around Jenaya's waist as he kissed her temple. "Play nice kitty."

Jenaya watched as the bedroom door opened and her eyes widened as Mackenzie stepped out of the room. Jenaya's emerald eyes locked with Mackenzie's deep sea blue; before Jenaya started to walk over to her.

Roman put his arm out and pulled it back when Jenaya slapped his chest. Big he might be but she was short and powerful. Roman jumped slightly as he rubbed the spot she slapped. "Damn it woman." Roman complained.

"Oh shut up." Jenaya snapped back as she started towards Mackenzie again.

Mackenzie watched as Jenaya walked over and stopped in front of the woman who had not only been like a sister she never had but had also been missing from her life for almost 3 years now. She could already see the tears lining her blue eyes and she could feel the tears stinging her own eyes. "I should kick your ass."

"HEY!" Roman growled.

"I thought I told you to shut up." Jenaya warned as she gave a glare behind her.

Dean tapped his fist on Roman's shoulder. "Clam up bro."

Jenaya's focus went back to the woman standing in front of her as she watched silent tears trickle down her cheeks. "Before I was so rudely interrupted; I should kick your ass for leaving us to our own devices for 2 ½ years. You have missed so many special moments by being gone. Not to mention the fact that you left me with dumb and dumber here alone." She stated as she threw a thumb over her shoulder towards Dean and Roman. "I swear to God if I got stuck in the car with the two of them singing old 80's TV sitcom show tunes. I'm going to have to plan some kind of murder/suicide thing and then run away to San Pablo to live the rest of my life, because I just wouldn't look cute in one of those prison jumpsuits."

Mackenzie couldn't help but let out a watery giggle as more tears slid down her cheeks. "Fluorescent orange isn't really a good color on anyone." She agreed.

Jenaya couldn't help but start letting her own tears slip out. "I really should kick your ass, but I'm really going to hug the shit out of you for a very long time so you might as well get all your clothes altered to look like we are Siamese twins attached at the boobs, because I'm not going to let you go for a while." Jenaya suddenly pulled Mackenzie into her arms as the girl began both sobbing.

Roman and Dean watched the display between the girls before Roman walked over and handed them a box of tissue. "Here don't snot on each other and come up for air every ten minutes."

Dean guided the two crying women over to the couch so they could hug and cry it out. "Here sit be comfortable. We'll order some food."

Jenaya pulled back as she sniffled. "Leave it to my man to be hungry at a time like this."

"Same old Dean." Mackenzie laughed.

"Of course he's the same old Dean." Jenaya laughed with her as the pair took tissues and blew their noses and wiped their eyes while trying to get their emotions under control.

"I'm sorry!" Mackenzie stated as more tears came out. "I'm so sorry about all of this Jenaya. I wanted to call you. I wanted to call you every day I was gone and tell you I was alive and well and stuck in some sucky New Mexico town, but those bastards at the Marshall services wouldn't let me have contact with anyone. I wasn't even allowed to talk to my sister." Mackenzie spoke faster than normal she needed to get it all out and quickly.

"I don't even care anymore." Jenaya sobbed back. "I just care that you are alive and safe again. I really want to maim the Marshall who coerced you into that shitty deal and lied to you about Roman and your family but for now I can only hope when Dain gets to arrest him that he brings him to us and secret lets us beat the shit out of him before he takes him to the pokey or wherever they take assholes like him and lies about him falling down several flights of metal steps repeatedly."

Both girls sat back for a second and took a few deep breaths before Jenaya lifted her left hand up. "And there was that one time you missed Dean being romantic and asking me to marry him." Jenaya added.

"Oh my God, Dean has a romantic side?" Mackenzie asked surprised.

Jenaya nodded. "Dean has a romantic side."

"Why did you say it like that?" Mackenzie asked.

"Like what?"

"Like you can barely keep your clothes on right now at the thought of Dean being romantic?" Mackenzie laughed.

Jenaya laughed hard. "Probably because we barely could keep them on after he asked in the back of the limo."

"Oh if that limo could talk." Mackenzie shook her head.

"The secrets it could tell." Jenaya nodded as the girls laughed and couldn't stop hugging again.

Mackenzie made up with Jenaya. All was right in the world again.


	12. Ch 12 Reno Bound

**Chapter 12** – Reno Bound

Sea blue eyes fluttered open as a large warm hand slid down her side to her waist and squeezed slightly before wrapping around her; pulling her back against a huge chest and body. She couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her lips. "So someone is awake." She stated softly as her hand covered his.

"I've actually been up for a while; I just decided to let you sleep a little longer. I went to the gym with Dean and since you was dead to the world; I completely forgot how deep you sleep." Roman chuckled before he moved around and kissed the side of her neck.

"Yes, well you did keep me up half the night." Mackenzie pointed out with a giggle.

"And half the morning as well." Roman's voice rumbled against her neck.

Her head tilted slightly to give him better access to her neck that she knew he wanted. "Mmmmm, you don't smell like you've been working out." Mackenzie stated after she took a deep breath through her nose and found nothing foul smelling.

"Yes well I do know that if I worked up a sweat and climbed my stinky ass in this bed and woke you up with my stink you'd kill me." Roman murmured against the flesh of her neck.

Mackenzie couldn't stop the laughter that filled the hotel room. "I'm glad you recognize my killer power over you." She couldn't help the giggle from slipping from her lips once again as she rolled over to face Roman. "But you also must remember I enjoy your sweet sweat; there is something about the way it slides all over your dark caramel skin and makes you glisten." She stated honestly.

"I know you do, but I also know stinking to high heaven after a workout smells much different then sweat from us being naked and locked in a bedroom together." Roman stated softly before catching her lips with his. "I started the shower for you and ordered some breakfast, if you get up now you should be done by the time the food gets here."

Mackenzie smiled softly as she kissed his lips once more before she extracted herself from the bed and stopped in the doorway of the bathroom. "You know sometimes you are really too good for me."

Roman stood up as he was in his jeans and a white v-neck t-shirt and barefoot as he walked over and stared at her in one of his black beaters and nothing else. "It's not me that's too good for you; it's you that is too good for me. Sometimes I don't know what I did to deserve you."

Mackenzie smiled softly as she walked up and wrapped her arms around Roman's neck. "Believe me I ask myself that every day since I met you Roman. I don't know what the answer is so I have no answers to give you. I'm just thankful you are here and that I'm back in your arms and nothing is going to tear me away from you again."

Roman wrapped one arm around her waist pulling her closer as his free hand gently ran through her hair. "You were away from me for far too long, but you are right about one thing. No one is going to take you from me again; I don't care what I have to do." His lips found hers again before he patted her rear-end and sent her to shower.

* * *

It didn't take Mackenzie long to shower up and wake herself up fully. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a red and white striped long sleeve v-neck cotton shirt. There was a slight chill in the air but Roman was never cold when they were inside a building; she on the other hand was cold all the time.

She stood in front of the mirror as she combed the knots out of her curls. She could see Roman moving round the bedroom, they had a flight to Florida in a couple of hours for their two days off and Mackenzie had agreed to go back to Pensacola with him.

Roman couldn't wait to get her back into his home; back where she really belonged. He would still wait a while until he could convince her to move in with him, but he wouldn't wait too long. He was walking around the hotel room packing up his things, he knew she had packed her stuff the night before like she always did, she was always a step ahead of him. Eventually he'd get in step with her, but for now he was taking everything one step at a time.

Roman zipped up his suitcase before he grabbed his backpack and placed it on the bed. He walked into the bathroom to grab his shaving kit when he walked behind Mackenzie and moved her still wet hair to the side and kissed her neck. Her hands came up as he watched her apply mousse to her beautiful curls so they wouldn't get frizzy; she did have a few things that she did to her hair to keep control over it. He just slapped his in a bun when it got on his nerves.

Suddenly his dark eyes narrowed as he saw something on her left wrist. "Babe, what the hell happened?" Roman asked as he spun her around and took her left hand in both of his as he inspected the dark bruise on the inside of her left wrist.

Mackenzie looked puzzled at his question until she looked down and saw the bruise. "Oh, I think your belt bit me last night." She was referring to when he would tie her wrists together with his belt when they would play.

Roman guided her over and sat her on the edge of the tub as he squatted down in front of her. "Babygirl you've got to tell me when the belt is too tight." He stated softly as he gently rubbed the bruise and watched her wince from the contact.

"Roman, don't freak out; it's okay. I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out. I promise I'm ok." Mackenzie stated honestly.

Roman knew Mackenzie occasionally sported fingerprint bruises on her hips when their love making got intense, but those were easily covered up with clothing. This was on her wrist and it looked painful and that killed Roman inside. "It's far from okay babygirl. As a Dom it's my job to not cause you pain; unless one – it's for pleasure or two – administering punishment. I've done one a million times with you but I've never punished you because I don't believe in that. I shouldn't have to beat you to make you do what I want or to keep you in line, because you are my equal not my servant; even though for Halloween I wouldn't mind seeing you in one of those sexy maid's outfits because you have great legs and a body that matches." Roman joked.

Mackenzie pulled one of her hands from Roman's as she ran her thumb over his bottom lip. "I'm not upset with you but clearly you are with yourself. I want you to calm yourself down and realize it's just a bruise and it will go away." She winked at him. "And I'll remember that maid outfit come October."

Roman shook his head negatively. "I don't like marking your body like this, but until it heals no more restraints. I won't take a chance and bruise you again. Yes you are my sub and yes you know what it entails, but you are also my queen and future wife and mother of our children." Roman moved from a squat to a kneeling position in front of her as he leaned down and softly kissed the bruise on her left wrist.

"I wish you wouldn't beat yourself up about this. Sometimes we get intense and things get rough but I can handle it. It's just a bruise. Nothing is broken and it's nothing that won't heal. I know when you leave bruises you are not doing it to be malicious or cruel. It's done all by accident and I don't hate you for it and I'm not mad about it or upset and I don't want you to tear yourself apart over a bruise that will go away in a couple of days." Mackenzie spoke softly.

Mackenzie cupped his face between her hands as she leaned down and caught his lips in a soft kiss. "I love you Roman. I love all of you and if I ever had a problem with the way we do things in the bedroom I would tell you something was wrong or let you know something hurt. But you've never hurt me and I know you never will. Now stop chastising yourself in your head and finish packing." She gripped his chin between her thumb and index finger. "And if you're a good boy I'll let you make it up to me when we get to Pensacola."

Roman couldn't help the chuckle that tumbled out of his lips. Before he stood up and stole another kiss from her. The couple was pulled apart when there was a knock on their hotel door. "I'll get it." Roman volunteered.

Roman walked out of the bathroom and over to the door and opened it and wasn't surprised to see Dean and Jenaya staring back at him. Ever since the girls had made up they were practically attached at the hip all day during travel days. "Should I be surprised you two are here?" He asked with a smirk.

Jenaya blew raspberries at Roman. "Where is Kenzie?" She questioned.

"I've got her tied up in the bedroom, I've decided you two have been spending way too much time together so I'm shipping her to Pensacola for our days off so I can re-brainwash her into thinking she has no friends and I'm the only one that matters in her life." Roman smarted off.

"Don't make me fuck you up Reigns. I know you guys like that tie me up; tie me down shit, but I need to talk to my girl right now." Jenaya warned.

Roman laughed hard from the back of his throat when he felt a hand smack his jean covered ass and saw Mackenzie standing there. "Babe it's Dean and Jenaya, what a shock." He joked with a smirk.

"Don't let him mess with you Jen, I'm right here." Mackenzie stated as she leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. "What's got your panties all twisted?"

Jenaya gave Roman the raspberries again as she walked by and stopped in front of Mackenzie. "Are you guys planning anything important for your days off?" She asked.

"Yes, lots and lots of sex." Roman's voice stated behind the girls as Dean's laughter carried towards them as well.

"ROMAN!

"Sorry." Roman half assed apologized and smiled sheepishly at his girlfriend who had her hands planted on her hips and was looking very serious now. He threw his hands up in the air. "Okay, okay well go get some coffee and be right back."

Mackenzie rolled her eyes as Roman and Dean left the room. "Sorry, Roman's been in a playful mood all morning. We don't really have much planned, just some alone time we can have anytime. What's up?"

Jenaya shook her head. "Hey I get it. The Samoan meathead was missing you something fierce when you was M.I.A. so I can understand his new playful attitude." She dismissed Roman's antics; Dean was the same exact way all the time and the two of them had driven her bonkers the last 2½ years and now were doing it to both women. Thank God she had a reprieve with Mackenzie back on the road; she was on the verge of shaving Roman's head and shoving her phone down Dean's throat. She loved him God help her, but damn it the two of them were a handful by herself.

"I was going to see if you guys would come with us to Reno. We've decided we want to get married ASAP, but I can't do it without you there and Dean refuses to do it without Roman. Jesus we sound like a couple of mentally unstable people who can't do anything without our blankies." Jenaya laughed at her last sentence.

"OH MY GOD! Are you serious!?" Mackenzie couldn't help the squeal that left her mouth as she practically tackled Jenaya with a hug. "You better not get married without your blankies." She joked.

"So that's a yes right?" Jenaya asked.

"Of course. YES!" Mackenzie stated.

The girls were pulled apart as the door to the hotel swung open. Roman had his phone up to his ear as Dean walked in behind him carrying a drink carrier with 4 coffees. He grabbed the one with the M on it as he walked over and handed it to Mackenzie. "Caramel Macchiato."

Mackenzie smiled as she took the cup. "Guess what?"

Roman shook his head. "I'm already changing the plane tickets woman. I know I owe you, but I'm going to be a VERY good boy and now you owe me as well." Her 1000 watt smile was all he needed to see. She wrapped her arms around his torso as she placed kisses up the side of his neck to his ear.

"Anything in particular you want?" She murmured against the shell of his ear as she nipped his ear lobe.

Chills ran through Roman's body when she tugged on his ear with her teeth. His arm went around her waist and he was just about to answer her when…

"Thank you for calling Delta Airlines, how may I assist you today?" came through the phone.

Roman gritted his teeth as he walked into the bathroom so speak to the lady privately. He knew Mackenzie, Jenaya and Dean were going to get loud and he wanted to make sure he could hear her. "Yes this is Roman Reigns and I need to change my plane tickets over to another destination…"

* * *

Mackenzie smiled softly. "I can't believe they are really going through with it today." She stated as she looked at Roman before sparing a look at the soon to be married couple across from them who were both napping during the flight.

They had caught the first flight to Reno and were currently sitting in the back of the plane. Dean and Roman both had baseball hats trying not to be recognized by fans. They really didn't need a mob attack 50,000 miles off the ground.

Mackenzie moved around as she sat on her feet facing Roman. "You're not upset are you?" She inquired.

Roman shook his head negatively. "Are you happy?" He watched as she nodded. "Well making you happy, makes me happy. Our alone time can be spent anywhere I don't give a damn where as long as I'm with you. Besides I'm happy for my boy, he's been looking forward to getting married ever since he proposed to Jenaya. I'm pretty sure she's been chomping at the bit as well. I've never seen two more perfect people so happy to be engaged and so ready to tackle marriage."

"That is…until we get engaged and then I think we'll be giving them a run for their money." Roman added a few minutes later.

Mackenzie took Roman's hand as their fingers laced together. "Until then Reno bound."

"Yup, Reno bound babygirl."


	13. Ch 13 Good Answer

**Chapter 13** – Good Answer

Stepping off the plane in Reno was a beautiful sight to Mackenzie; maybe not so much to Roman or Dean, both hated the winter months and having to travel through it when they were on the road. Which was also why Roman lived in Pensacola, Florida and Dean was in Las Vegas, Nevada neither place saw winters. It had it's cold days but never to the point of having to put several layers on.

Mackenzie was used to the winters in Chicago so the snow in Reno was nothing new to her deep sea blue eyes. She couldn't help as they walked from the airport to the car rental carport as she stood and smelled the air; there was something about the smell of fresh snow.

Roman noticed there was a presence missing from his side and his hand was empty. He stopped in his tracks as he turned and looked behind him. He couldn't help chuckling. Only Mackenzie would be found standing in the snow smiling. He pulled his skull cap down a little tighter when the wind kicked up before helping Dean load the bags into the rented SUV. He turned and walked back over to Mackenzie as he watched the snow falling on her corkscrew curls. As her face was turned up towards the sky.

"Babygirl…"

Roman's rumbling voice pulled Mackenzie out of her reverie as her head dropped and her blue eyes sought out his dark brown. She couldn't stop the smile as she stepped up and wrapped her arms around his torso. She sighed in contentment when she felt Roman's arms wrap around her.

"What are you doing woman? You're going to turn into a popsicle if you stand out here much longer." Roman pointed out as he pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"Promise me well take a vacation in Tahoe before the winter season ends." Kenzie requested.

"Are you out of your ever loving mind woman it's freezing during the winter there." Roman stated.

Kenzie pulled back as she looked at Roman with a deep frown marred her face. "Please Roman…"

Roman shook his head. There was NO WAY he could handle her frowning at him like that; not when she was so beautiful when she smiled. "Why is it so important to go on a Tahoe vacation before winter is gone?" He inquired.

Mackenzie smiled softly. "Walks on snow covered hills until our toes practically get frost bite. Sipping hot chocolate and feeling it warm our bodies from the inside out. Sitting in front of a roaring fire wrapped in a blanket. Not to mention the fact that it is a vacation and anything pretty much goes during it."

Roman chuckled lightly. "You know you make vacationing in the freezing cold sound damn wonderful."

"Well, I can make any vacation sound damn wonderful and don't you forget that." Mackenzie winked up at Roman who couldn't help laughing again. "But until I can get you to agree to it, we've got a wedding to get to right now."

Roman nodded as they turned their focus onto their friends who were desperately waiting for them so they could get their day started.

* * *

Before Jenaya would even decide on a church to take their vows she and Mackenzie went shopping for a new outfit. There was no way she was going to get married in her every day clothes that she constantly wore on the road. Once they both got their outfits bought then everything else was decided.

Roman was down in Dean and Jenaya's room helping Dean get ready while Jenaya was in Roman and Mackenzie's room so Kenzie could help her.

Roman took a sip from his long neck bottle of beer as he watched Dean standing in front of the mirror. "You sure you're ready for this bro?" He asked honestly.

Dean sighed heavily as he smoothed the black polo shirt down his chest and stomach as he took a long pull from his own beer. "Dude, you know me I wanted to marry her 2 years ago, but we've been going non-stop on the road. At this rate if we don't do it today; we won't be getting married until were in our fifties after I've retired." He joked.

Roman chuckled. "Yea which is why I've been wondering how the hell am I going to get time off to get married to Mackenzie. Shit at this rate the only way any of us can get married would be to go to the old man and tell him we are willing to have a wedding in the middle of the ring."

Dean laughed hard. "Can you imagine how many weddings Vinnie boy would have to plan for TV if that was the case?"

Roman couldn't help chuckling again as he walked over and threw his arm around Dean's shoulders as they stared in the mirror. Roman in his royal blue polo and jeans and Dean in his black polo and jeans. They had really come a long way in the last few years. "Damn bro, I can't believe you are taking vows before me." Roman stated truthfully.

Dean nodded. "You'd be taking them too yourself if you'd give Mackenzie the damn ring you've had in your bag for the last 4 years. You already know you guys have done all the making up and getting re-acquainted that you're going to do. It doesn't take a genius to see you two belong together. Honestly bro, I think had you given that ring to her before all that ridiculousness happened with Jeff Walker, she would've never had any reason to go into witness protection."

Roman shook his head negatively. "Man, I don't even know if an engagement ring would've stopped her. That asshole did so much damage while they were together and even after they broke up. I'm surprised she trusts anything with a dick right now. I never could understand how assholes like him got girlfriends and then I met Mackenzie and it was easy. He literally made her feel like she was a queen before he beat her down; making her then believe she wasn't worth shit."

Dean nodded. "I remember how hard you had to work to get her to understand you weren't Jeff and I wasn't so sure you could convince her, but you managed. And yea you guys had a minor setback for 2 ½ years, but you're right back where you guys need to be. You just have to forgive her and move on with your lives. Bro everything she did for all of us, was at the expense of losing everyone and everything in her life. I can't imagine living in some shitty little desert town not knowing anyone within a matter of days. I mean I remember living alone and loved it, but only until I started dating Jenaya, then I never wanted to go back to my shitty apartment by myself ever again; which is why the first chance I got I asked her to move in with me. And if you're smart you will do the same with Mac."

"What do you mean forgive her and move on; I have forgiven her." Roman stated.

Dean shook his head. "No you haven't. If you had you'd be engaged right now or it would be you two getting married today, but it's not…like you said I can't believe I'm taking vows before you bro." Dean grabbed Roman's shoulder. "I can tell by the look on your face. You are really happy to have her back in your life and yes you love her just as much as before, but you haven't really forgiven her; because you're still having an issue with her doing all of that to protect you. I'm big bad Roman Reigns. I'm 6'3 and 265lbs I can kick anyone's ass. I don't need some woman protecting me." Dean mocked.

Roman frowned. Dean was right. It was hard being a 6'3 265lb man and knowing a woman gave up everything to help protect him. This was something he was going to have to face if he ever planned on asking Mackenzie to marry him and he had to face it soon. It wounded his pride…it wounded his Samoan pride. Generations of his people; it was always the men protecting the women.

A man who couldn't protect his woman wasn't considered a man at all.

* * *

Mackenzie had been dressed in her blue dress with the white flowers on it with the matching blue heels as she was waiting for Jenaya to emerge. She finally blinked and watched as Jenaya walked out of the bathroom in a simple but beautiful white wrap around dress that stopped just above her knees. It tied on the side and she finished it off with a pair of white pep toe pumps. "Oh my God, I can't believe how beautiful you look. Well you always look beautiful but damn girl; Ambrose is not going to know what to do with himself when he sees you in that dress."

"You don't think it's too plain; do you?" Jenaya asked as she turned and looked in the full length mirror behind the bedroom door.

"Simple but elegant." Kenzie smiled in approval. "Dean better be wearing some tight pants or he's going to be having some issues before you guys can even get your vows out." Mackenzie teased.

Jenaya left her hair down in soft curls that bounced slightly when she walked. She had just a touch of mascara on with some soft pink gloss on her lips. She didn't need anything else; not with her natural beauty. She blushed slightly at Mackenzie's words not expecting her best friend to say that. "I can't believe you said that and I can't believe I'm getting married before you."

Mackenzie smile softly. "I know you're going to be an old married bitch in a couple of hours."

"Old my ass." The girls laughed it off as they hugged tightly.

* * *

The little white wedding chapel in Reno was the perfect spot for them to get married. Roman and Mackenzie stood next to them at the altar in front of the minister as his wife played some cheesy organ music, but no one carried. The happy couple taking their vows could've cared less. They had both decided to write their own vows. Dean decided he was going to go first. Dean swallowed hard as he stepped up as he took Jenaya's hands. "This is going to be mushy as shit, but it's from me to you." He watched as she smiled softly before she nodded.

Dean cleared his throat. "I wish I could stand up here and promise you the world, but the world isn't mine to give. What I do promise is my world, and all it entails. My love, support, passion and enthusiasm. I wish I could promise you forever, but someone infinitely greater than I already has. What I do promise is every second of this time sliver of eternity I've been blessed with."

He took a soft breath and continued. "You have been my best friend, playmate, confidant, and my greatest challenge. But most importantly, you are the love of my life and you make me happier than I could ever imagine and more loved than I ever thought possible. You have made me a better person, as our love for one another is reflected in the way I live my life. So I am truly blessed to be a part of your life, which as of today becomes our life together."

Jenaya couldn't help the silent tears. Dean had never said anything so sweet, She felt him reach up and wipe her tears with his thumbs as she swallowed. "You have brought such joy to my life. Thank you for loving me as I am and taking me into your heart. I promise to walk by your side forever and to love, help, and encourage you in all that you do. I will take the time to talk to you, to listen to you and to care for you. Through all the changes of our lives, I will be there for you always as strength in need, a comfort in sorrow, a counselor in difficulty, and a companion in joy. Everything I am and everything I have is yours now and forevermore.

She took a breath and tried not to cry more. "You were my reason back then, my reason now, my reason every day. You strengthen my weaknesses, bring focus to my dreams. Here and now I pledge my life to yours, that your dreams become my dreams. No matter where life leads me, I know that as long as you are there, that is where I am meant to be."

The minister stepped forward. "With the exchanging of the vows and the rings, you have pledged you're lives to one another and may you live together in love forever. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

Dean cupped Jenaya's cheeks as he leaned down and caught her lips with his. It was official and they couldn't have been any happier at that moment.

* * *

Once everyone got back to the hotel the couples went their separate ways for all obvious reasons. Dean pushed the door open to their room before he walked in and let the door closed. As he smiled down at the emerald eyed beauty in front of him he pulled her into his arms and his lips kissed the tip of her nose before he kissed her lips softly. His hand left her face as it slid down her body to wrap around her waist as he gently pushed her back until her back was against the wall and he was pressing his body against hers. His lips kissed along her jaw down to her ear as he found a nice sensitive spot and he felt her shiver against him and he couldn't help smirk against her neck. "Tell me what you want darlin'. I'll give you whatever you want."

"Anything?" Jenaya breathed out, burying her fingers in his auburn blonde hair and felt him nod. She smiled and pulled away from his mouth, staring up into his eyes again and this time brushed her lips softly against his. Then she pressed both hands against his chest and pushed him back toward the bed, going with him. He went easily enough. There was no way she could move Dean, even with how strong she was, if he didn't move of his own accord. Jenaya shoved him down on the bed and straddled his lap, moving her hands to the hem of the black polo he wore. "Arms up." She ordered, smirking when he complied and pushed the material up over his head, tossing it to the floor. Her hands than began at his broad shoulders and slowly slid their way down to his incredible biceps. There was something about this man's arms that just made Jenaya weak in the knees and her entire body ignite with fire. Her emerald eyes focused solely on his left bicep first and Jenaya loved how the muscles rippled beneath her soft touch. She loved how the veins popped out, but not too much to make it look gross. It was incredibly hot. Once she finished with his left bicep, Jenaya moved to the right and did the exact same thing, simply caressing and nothing more.

Dean smirked as he felt her hands on his arms. He was letting her take full control. He physically shuddered a couple of times as he felt her soft hands caressing his arms; he could only imagine what they would feel like touching the rest of his body; not that they hadn't done this before but this would be the first time as husband and wife. Whichever arm she wasn't touching; his hand was caressing parts of her body through her clothing as his lips found her neck again. The taste of her skin on his tongue was intoxicating to him. She was always his drug of choice. She would continue to be his drug of choice for a VERY LONG TIME. Both of his hands came up and squeezed her backside; he groaned at how firm all parts of her body felt in his hands. "You're killing me darlin'; you're absolutely fuckin killing me." He mumbled against her neck.

"I know." She murmured, enjoying the feeling of his lips on her neck and finally slid her hands up to his shoulders, kneading them. Jenaya pulled back to stare into his hazy blue eyes and scooted back a little. She guided his hands to help remove her white dress, leaving her clad in a white lace bra. "I want you, Dean. So what do you say we skip the foreplay and end both of our suffering?" She suggested, reaching back to unsnap her bra and smiled when he stopped her, shaking a finger. Dean lifted her up and sat her back down on his lap, this time with her back facing him. Emerald eyes went wide when his teeth enclosed around the clasp of her bra and it unsnapped moments later, falling to the floor in front of her.

Dean's lips placed open mouthed kisses along her bare back as his hands started at her knees and slid up her soft thighs before one hand cupped her left breast bringing her back tight against his chest as his lips continue to assault her neck and bare shoulder. All the while his other hand slipped into her panties as his fingers started touching the most intimate parts of her body. He rubbed circles around her sensitive clit for a few minutes before his hand slid further down and he stroked her dripping opening before slipping a finger all the way into her, within a moment a second finger joined the first. "God you are so wet darlin'. Is all of that for me?" His raspy voice rumbled in her ear.

"Yes, only yours…" Jenaya whimpered. "Christ, get these panties off of me already!" She groaned, hearing him chuckle in that low raspy voice and nearly came unglued. The feeling of his fingers probing her just heightened her senses considerably and her hips began moving with every thrust. Taking pity on her, Dean pulled his fingers out of her panties and stood her up with her back still facing him. His hands slid her panties down, helping her step out of them and Jenaya could hear him shuffle out of his jeans. That meant he was completely naked and her suspicions were confirmed when his pulsating cock brushed up against her ass. Dean sat back down on the bed and pulled her to straddle him once again, his fingers picking up where they left off.

Dean loved that her juices soaked his fingers and the palm of his hand the longer he enjoyed touching her. His hand was alternating between breasts from left to right. "I don't want the other one getting jealous. Equal treatment is healthy." He chuckled against her neck listening to her mewls of approval for what he was doing to her body. "Mmm I think you're definitely ready for me darlin'. Lift up just slightly." He removed his fingers from her body as he sucked her essence from his fingers and moaned at the taste of pure honey on his tongue. "You always taste as good as you look." He grabbed his shaft as he ran the tip up and down her soaking sex. He barely placed just the tip inside of her. "Sit down when you're ready." He wouldn't rush her.

Jenaya tried catching her breath from Dean's administrations as she wiggled her ass a little and heard him growl, giggling softly. Her emerald eyes closed as the sensation of Dean filling her to the brim pulsated through every nerve-ending of her body. The sound of Dean's hissing and groaning combined with her uncontrollable moans were sweet music to both of their ears. Jenaya lulled her head back against Dean's shoulder and tilted her face up as their lips connected, one of his strong hands splaying against her flat stomach. Her hand slid across his neck to buried in his auburn blonde hair as he began moving inside of her, ecstasy taking completely over.

Dean was going to take his time and savor every thrust, every movement and every moan. He wanted her to feel every inch of him as he slowly and methodically moved in and out of her body as he gripped her hips and helped her glide up and down his hardened shaft. When her body moved down he could absolutely feel he was completely buried inside of her welcoming body. "We are going to just enjoy this slowly for a moment." He loved the feeling of her fingers tightening in his hair like she was trying to pull him closer to her; as if they could get any closer.

"I'm in no hurry to end this. Go as slow as you…want…" She barely got that last word out in a gasp because of how ignited her body was. It felt like it was engulfed in either a forest fire or molten lava, she couldn't decide. Jenaya heard him chuckle in her ear and shivered, moving in rhythm with him. "Dean…" His name poured out of her mouth in a moan full of so much emotion as her legs parted to drive him even deeper inside of her. The moment was erotic and mind-blowing, definitely something Jenaya never experienced before in her life. When Dean asked if they were ready for a different position, she nodded and felt him leave her body, only to be brought right back down again moments later. Dean lay on the bed, his legs dangling off the end of it and Jenaya began riding him, rolling her hips against him to get the most out of this.

Dean's eyes rolled into the back of his head at the feeling of letting her control the speed and movements. She always fit so perfectly with him. It was like she was made specifically for him. There were a few times he was sure he couldn't be any deeper inside of her body and then she would change the way her hips moved and... "God Damn." He groaned in mid thought. His hands went from gripping her hips to cupping her breasts as she continued to rock up and down on his cock. She took his breath away quite a few times just from the different angles alone. Her nails were digging into his chest and when she pinched both of his nipples at the same time he felt his cock harden even more inside of her body.

Never sliding out of her, Dean bolted upright on the bed and flipped Jenaya on her back, continuously thrusting inside of her. He brought both of her legs up to rest on his shoulders as his hips snapped forward, increasing the pace. They were both so close, she could almost taste it. This position made him go even deeper inside of her if that was possible. Jenaya was afraid he'd burst right through her back wall to her rectum at this point. Her body bowed off the bed as her moans turned into cries, the sounds of flesh smacking flesh echoing off the walls. "Come here, I want to touch you." He was too far away from her, Jenaya needed to feel his body weight on top of her. Dean obliged, draping her legs on either side of his waist as her feet buried into the comforter. His mouth found hers in a passionate kiss as her fingers once again delved in his hair.

Dean's lips found hers again as she weaved her fingers into his hair again. He secretly loved it when she played with his hair. It was his own personal fetish he usually didn't like it when women touched his hair because they didn't like the haphazardness of it and always tried to convince him to cut it. Women always wanted to change him; they never just wanted him as is. For some reason the beautiful woman beneath his body just wanted him. It was a first in his life. "God I love your fingers in my hair darlin'." He mumbled against her lips as his hips continued to thrust in and out of her beautiful body. "I don't know if I want this to end or not. But I know we're both pretty much ready to cum. I can feel your walls milking me."

"Oh god I can feel them too, I'm so close…" Jenaya kissed him with every ounce of feeling she had inside her body, letting him know she agreed with his sentiments. She was going out of her mind as her walls began caving in around Dean's cock, the hot coil within her stomach threatening to spring free. Close – she was…there. All at once, the blistering heat between them sparked and spread throughout her body as the coil sprung free. Her sex wrapped him up in a tight warm cocoon, milking him for every drop he exploded inside of her. They came together, the feeling was earthshattering and Jenaya never wanted it to end, both of them slamming their lips together to muffle their screams.

Exploding so deep inside of Jenaya's body gave him a fully euphoric feeling through his entire body. Her walls were just completely milking for every last drop and he would give it to her too. He didn't want to collapse on top of her and crush her. He kept himself up on his elbows. When they both stopped and calmed considerable, he carefully pulled out of her, before pulling her into his arms facing him. His index finger softly tracing her lips before he softly kissed her lips. "I don't think I've ever felt this happy in my entire life Mrs. Ambrose. Jesus Christ you've got me sounding like a chic."

"I don't care how much you sound like a chic Mr. Ambrose. The feelings are more than mutual; otherwise I wouldn't have married your ass today." She kissed him back, snuggling against him further and brushed some hair from his forehead and eyes. Jenaya rubbed her nose against his, sighing in contentment.

Dean lit up a smoke as he inhaled deeply letting the nicotine filter through his system. He rarely still smoked, Jenaya was slowly getting him to stop for his health and well being. He reached over and opened the window slightly. He didn't want the smoke to be thick in the air. He rolled onto his back and pulled her to his chest as his fingers lazily combed through her hair. Dean scoffed. "You're gonna care if I start growing breasts!" Turning his head away from her, he let the smoke slide out of his nose and mouth. Before his eyes turned back and locked with hers.

"Oh God! Don't say that!" Jenaya laughed, snuggling against him and draped her leg over his. Dean reached up to pull the sheet over both of them since the air was a little chilly tonight. There was no way Jenaya would freeze though, not with Dean's warm body pressed against her. "So do you want to sleep or should we go another round?"

Dean smirked down at her before he flicked his finished cigarette out the window. "What do you think darlin'?"

"I think were not getting a lot of sleep tonight."

Dean chuckled as he threw the sheet over their heads as he caught her lips with his. "Good answer."


	14. Ch 14 Dose Of Home

**Chapter 14** – Dose Of Home

The trip to Reno had been exactly what everyone needed. Roman and Mackenzie got their alone time after they finished watching their two friends get married. Mackenzie was blissfully happy for her two friends; happy they had found their way to each other, happy they couldn't get enough of each other and happy that their love was so strong and pure that they wanted to tie themselves to each other for the rest of their lives.

The next few weeks following the Reno trip had been hectic and insanity all wrapped in one. First the wrestlers were getting ready for the next big pay per view plus they had a South African tour coming up and had actually just gotten back into the states from their European tour. So everyone was slightly running on empty; but was still pushing themselves.

Roman was slightly grumpy from too much travel and not enough sleeping with the schedule the wrestlers had been keeping up lately. He'd been working out with Dean in the gym while they were bullshitting and bitching about the scripts that Vince had recently had the writers putting out. For some reason Vince was pushing Roman to the top of the so called company food chain and the fans hated that he was being shoved down their throats. Roman wasn't all that thrilled with the decisions either, but everyone already knew whatever Vince wanted Vince got.

Roman had finished up his work out and went back to the hotel room and got a shower going. Once he was done he had dressed in jeans and was walking around the hotel bare foot and shirtless. As he walked into the bedroom he saw Mackenzie packing up her stuff. "What are you packing up so early for woman?" He asked.

Mackenzie stopped as her eyes looked over at Roman. "Uh hello I have a flight back to Chicago today. I have a shit ton of paperwork to get to Robert and its just easier to deliver it and help him get it filed then to fax all the crap to him."

"Well when were you going to tell me you were going back to Chicago without me?" Roman asked a little rougher than normal.

"What now I have to have your permission to leave your side for 4 days to see my boss? Besides I told you last week and also again 2 days ago." Mackenzie stated as she turned back to packing up her things. She knew Roman had been on the grumpy side but she could just feel a fight coming and couldn't figure out why.

"So, you were just going to run away?" Roman insinuated.

"Runaway? I hardly call going to see my boss running away Roman. What is going on with you? I know you've been tired from all the traveling and shit but why are you acting like an ass?" Mackenzie asked.

"I'm not acting like anything; I'm just trying to figure out why every time I turn around you are running back to Chicago." Roman growled softly. "I just feel like you are always running away."

"You already know once every month I go back to Chicago to file the paperwork that goes into this company and the contracts that get signed for the superstars; why is today suddenly something new?" Mackenzie sighed heavily as she sat and put her sneakers on before she stood back up. "And I'm hardly running anywhere. Well actually I'm going to be running late if I stand here and argue with you more, because then I'll be late for my flight."

She pulled her hair up into a ponytail as she pulled on her zip up hoodie. The plane always got chilly because of the air conditioning they always had on. "So do you want to tell me what's wrong or do you want to keep picking a fight with me?" Mackenzie asked as she looked at Roman and watched as he rolled his eyes while pulling a t-shirt on.

Mackenzie zipped up her rolling suitcase as she set it on the floor and pulled the handle up for it. She suddenly felt like she'd been hit by lightening as she turned towards Roman again. "Running? That's why you keep saying that. You think when I went into witness protection I was running away, which means you haven't forgiven me for what happened or what I did."

"What are you talking about; I forgave you a while ago." Roman stated; damn that lie tasted bad coming out of his mouth.

"You have never lied to me Roman; I don't know why you would even start now." Mackenzie stated as she shook her head. She didn't even need him to confirm it. His silence only served to annoy and hurt her feelings. "Okay fine Roman. I'm going home and you can let me know when you're done being an ass and I'll think about re-joining you on the road."

Mackenzie started to leave when she looked back at Roman. "What's the point of wanting to marry me if you can't trust or forgive me? You'll just spend the rest of your life wondering if I'm going to run away again and I'll spend the rest of my life wondering if you really love me or if you're just lying to me." She turned and left the hotel room.

Roman listened to the hotel room door as it slammed behind Mackenzie before he fell back on the bed and scrubbed his hands down his face while staring up at the ceiling.

What the actual fuck was that all about?

Roman honestly hadn't meant to pick a fight with Mackenzie before her flight out. It would just make her jetlag ten times worse if she wasn't calm during the plane ride. God damn it he hated when Dean was right. He hadn't forgiven her for wounding his Samoan pride, but he now had screwed things up so badly that if he didn't learn to forgive her he was going to potentially lose her and that was something he DID NOT want.

* * *

A couple of hours later Roman walked into the arena as he joined Dean and Jenaya in their locker room. Jenaya spent most of her time there unless she was needed elsewhere. She had recently gotten a new position in the company. She had started out at Stephanie's personal assistant and now she was a writer for the company. She was allowed to work on anyone's scripts unless they were facing Dean; for obvious reasons.

Dean was lacing up his wrestling boots when he heard the door open and close to the locker room. He saw Roman enter the room and watched as the big man silently moved around the room. Dean could just feel like something was gnawing on the big man's mind. "Did Mackenzie make it to Chicago ok?" He asked; breaking the silence.

Roman sighed heavily as he sat down across from his best friend and started getting ready for the night as well. "I guess so, but at this point she's probably not speaking to me." He stated truthfully.

Dean groaned. "What the hell happened? When we parted ways after the gym everything was ok."

Roman shook his head. "One minute she getting ready to leave and the next I'm picking a fight with her. So I'll be lucky if she talks to me at all right now."

"Why would you pick a fight with your girl?" Dean asked with a disapproving look on his face.

Roman shook his head once more. "I don't know man. I have been grumpy for the last few days because of the god damn traveling and not enough rest and apparently today I chose to take it out on Kenzie and I didn't mean too, but decided today it was time to be an asshole."

Dean groaned while making a face. "Man what the hell could you possibly have going wrong in your life that is bad enough to take it out on the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with? Dude if this goes back to the whole you can't forgive her for hurting your Samoan ego you're going to be kicking yourself by morning."

Roman nodded. "I'm already kicking myself. I started kicking myself 5 seconds after she walked out of the hotel room."

* * *

Roman finished out the rest of the week and flew back to Pensacola for his days off. He needed a dose of home and that was exactly what he got. He also knew he needed to talk to someone other than Dean about his damn Samoan pride. Even though he knew Dean was right. Dean was always right.

He stopped at his house first and dropped all of his crap off and even started some of his laundry before he took off to his parent's house. If anyone could give him a different perspective it would be his mother.

Of course the first thing his Italian momma did was feed him. Lisa watched as her youngest sat at the dining room table and ate in silence, which was really not like Roman. She grabbed a cup of coffee and walked over and sat across from him. "Okay baby boy what is going on with you today; you are way too quiet for this house hold."

Roman sighed heavily as he scrubbed his hands up and down his face as he finished chewing the bite in his mouth and swallowed it. "I had a fight with Mackenzie and I haven't heard anything from her in a couple of days.."

"You want to tell me what you two are fighting about? Kenzie is generally the easiest person to get along with and she rarely ever raises her voice let alone fighting; she doesn't even like arguing with anyone after she had that terrible relationship with that animal she dated before you."

Roman nodded. "I know, this fight is on me. She didn't even raise her voice at me. I was a complete bear with her and for no absolute good reason. I think sometimes my Samoan pride is just a little more than she can deal with."

"And by Samoan pride, what exactly are you talking about Roman?" Losa questioned.

"When she came back into my life and I found out about her signing herself into Witness protection to protect me and you and…everyone. I had the hardest time believing I couldn't have protected her just as good as any law enforcement man or woman with a gun." Roman sighed heavily once more through his nose. "But then her brother in law Dain showed me the files on some of the guys they caught that had been hired to kill any of us and I was suddenly aware that I had to push my pride and stubbornness aside and realize I couldn't have kept her as safe as I originally thought."

"And now?"

"And now I'm having a hell of a time forgiving her for choosing the Witness protection over me. I intentionally picked a fight with her two days ago because she was flying back to Chicago to file paperwork for the company. I mean seriously mom, she flies back once a month and I knew it and I still acted like a fuckin jackass." Roman explained.

"Language buddy." Lisa warned with a glare.

"Sorry." Roman mumbled.

Lisa stood up and walked around to the same side Roman was seated as she sat next to him and took his hand in hers. "I've venture to say if you can't put that pride of yours aside you run the risk of really pissing Mackenzie off and spending the rest of your life trying to find her replacement. Or – Or you can let her go because you two aren't meant to be together. But you better figure it out before you make a mistake you can't take back."

"No, we are definitely meant to be together. I've known that much since the first time I laid eyes on her. I love that we have this huge second chance. Going through the two and half years I thought she was dead was the worst time in my life. I tried dating other girl but none of them were Mackenzie. None of them could make me as happy as she did and God knows they all tried, but they all failed miserably and they all knew it too. And it wasn't because I was comparing them because honestly there was really no comparison." Roman admitted.

Lisa sighed. "So at this point you know who you want and you know how long you want to be with her, but if you can't let go of the ghost you can't control you're going to not only lose her but yourself as well." Lisa reached over as she gently gripped her son's chin and pulled his eyes to hers. "Roman, I know you love Mackenzie and I can already tell she is someone you want in your world for the rest of your life, and I know the scariest part is always admitting your pride is getting in the way of your heart. You are so much like your father and brother and once you learn how to push that pride aside I don't think Mackenzie will have a problem forgiving you."

"Forgiving me; for what?" Roman asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Forgive you for picking a fight with her." Lisa shook her head negatively. "You don't have to forgive her verbally as much as you need to say you're sorry for being a…how did you put it? A fuckin jackass."

Roman's eyes widened; his mother very rarely cussed and dropping the F bomb was NEVER in her vocabulary. "Mom!"

Lisa couldn't help as she giggled at the look on her sons face. "I pay attention to the things you say young man. I understand your generation probably cusses more to get your point across, so I'll say exactly what you said to get you to understand at this point you are the only one standing in your way of forever happiness with Mackenzie."

Lisa stood from the table. "Finish eating and think about what I said."

"Yes ma'am." Roman nodded.

"Oh and one more thing." Lisa walked back over as she gripped Roman's shoulder. "I wouldn't mind having Mackenzie in the family. Also my heart could stand to have a few more grandchildren in my life." Lisa leaned over and kissed the top of her sons head. "You think about that as well."

Roman shook his head negatively. "Yes ma'am." He chuckled. She was always gunning for more grandkids.

Roman knew going home was probably the best thing he could've done for his two days off. Seeing his parents and the rest of his family put everything into perspective.

Now he just had to figure out how to put all of it into words for Mackenzie.


End file.
